turncoat

See also: turn-coat and turn coat

English

WOTD – 13 May 2010

Etymology

A compound of turn +‎ coat, reportedly derived from the sometime military practice of wearing uniform coats that were lined in material of a contrasting color, and which could be worn inside out to present a different appearance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtəːn.kəʊt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈtɝn.koʊt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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Noun

turncoat (plural turncoats)

1. A traitor; one who turns against a previous affiliation or allegiance.

Alternative forms

• turn-coat
• turn coat

Synonyms

• (traitor): apostate, defector, renegade

Translations

a traitor

• Armenian: ռենեգատ (hy) (ṙenegat), ուրացող (hy) (uracʻoġ), դավաճան (hy) (davačan), փախստակ (hy) (pʻaxstak)
• Bashkir: хыянатсы (xıyanatsı), хаин (xain), һатлыҡ (hatlıq)
• Catalan: trànsfuga m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: vendekåbe c
• Finnish: takinkääntäjä (fi)
• French: renégat (fr), apostat (fr), traître (fr)
• Galician: virachaquetas, chaqueteiro, defector, traidor, desertor
• German: Überläufer (de) m, Überläuferin (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: köpönyegforgató (hu)
• Irish: cat breac m
• Italian: voltagabbana (it) m or f, pentito (it) m, traditore (it) m, giravolta, banderuola (it)
• Japanese: 裏切り者 (ja)
• Norwegian: forræder (no) m. overløper m
• Polish: zdrajca (pl)
• Portuguese: vira-casaca m or f
• Russian: (literary) (contemptuous) ренега́т (ru) m (renegát), (contemptuous) перебе́жчик (ru) m (perebéžčik), преда́тель (ru) m (predátelʹ)
• Spanish: tránsfuga (es), rajeta (es), veleta (es), renegado (es), chaquetero (es)
• Swahili: popo (sw)
• Swedish: kappvändare c, någon som vänder kappan efter vinden (sv), överlöpare (sv)
• Welsh: gwrthgiliwr m