scam - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

US American carnival slang of uncertain origin. Possibly from scamp (“swindler, cheater”) or Irish cam (“crooked”). Also possibly from Danish skam; if so, it would be a doublet of shame and sham. First use appears c. 1963 in the periodical Time. The word became common use among the US drug culture when in early 1980, after Operation ABSCAM, an FBI sting operation directed at public officials, became public.

(without æ-raising) IPA(key): /ˈskæm/
- - (æ-raising) IPA(key): /ˈskeə̯m/, /ˈskɛə̯m/
Rhymes: -æm
Hyphenation: scam

scam (plural scams)

A fraudulent deal.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:deception
That marketing scheme looks like a scam to me.
Something that is promoted using scams.
That new diet burger is a scam.

fraudulent deal

Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: اِحْتِيَال m (iḥtiyāl)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Bengali: ছলনা (bn) (cholna)
Bulgarian: нечестна сделка f (nečestna sdelka), изма́ма (bg) f (izmáma)
Catalan: estafa (ca) f, enredada f, tripijoc (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 詭計 / 诡计 (zh) (guǐjì), 騙局 / 骗局 (zh) (piànjú)
Czech: podvod (cs) m
Danish: bedrageri n
Dutch: oplichting (nl) f, deceptie (nl), bedrog (nl), misleiding (nl)
Esperanto: trompo, friponaĵo
Estonian: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: huijaus (fi), vedätys (fi), vilunki (fi) (informal)
French: entourloupe (fr) f, arnaque (fr) f, escroquerie (fr) f, trucage (fr) m, manipulation (fr) f à caractère frauduleux, tour de passe-passe (fr) m, tripotage (fr) m
Galician: calote m
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Betrug (de) m, Beschiss (de) m, Gaunerei (de) f, Schwindel (de) m, Trickdiebstahl (de) m, Trickbetrug m
Greek: απάτη (el) f (apáti), κομπίνα (el) f (kompína)
Hebrew: תרגיל עוקץ, הונאה (he) f (honaá), תרמית f (tarmít)
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Ido: eskroko (io)
Indonesian: scam
Italian: scam (it) m, fregatura (it) f, truffa (it) f, imbroglio (it) m, raggiro (it) m, inciucio (it) m, tresca (it) f, intrallazzo (it) m, macchinazione (it) f, pastetta f, bidone (it) m, bidonata (it) f, trucco (it) m, frode (it) f
Japanese: 詐欺 (ja) (さぎ, sagi)
Kabuverdianu: kanbalaxu
Khmer: ការបោកប្រាស់ (kaa baok prah), គ្រោងការក្បត់ (krooŋ kaa kbɑt)
Lao: please add this translation if you can
Latvian: please add this translation if you can
Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
Macedonian: и́змама f (ízmama), дала́вера f (dalávera), ду́бара f (dúbara)
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: bedrageri n
Nynorsk: svindel f
Plautdietsch: Schwindel m
Polish: oszustwo (pl) n, przekręt (pl) m, szwindel (pl) m
Portuguese: golpe (pt) m, calote (pt) m, embrulhada f, fraude (pt) f, falcatrua (pt) f, logro (pt) m
Punjabi: ਸਕੈਮ m (sakaim)
Russian: афе́ра (ru) f (aféra), жу́льничество (ru) n (žúlʹničestvo), моше́нничество (ru) n (mošénničestvo); partly: обма́н (ru) m (obmán), надува́тельство (ru) n (naduvátelʹstvo)
Spanish: estafa (es) f, timo (es) m, chanchullo (es) m, petardo (es) m, pufo m
Swedish: lurendrejeri (sv), bedrägeri (sv) n
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: dolandırma, dolandırıcılık (tr)
Vietnamese: trò lừa đảo

scam (third-person singular simple present scams, present participle scamming, simple past and past participle scammed)

(ambitransitive) To defraud or embezzle.
Synonym: con
They tried to scam her out of her savings.
(slang) To seek out a partner for casual sex; to hit on.
- 2005, Robert Antoni, Carnival, New York, N.Y.: Black Cat, →ISBN, page 54:
  His friend nudged me. "It's true. JJ only scams black ladies." / "You don't say?" / "J-boy scammed a real live Miss Black Universe once. Met her in a disco down in Honduras. Wearing her title. Since then he's been obsessed."

to defraud or embezzle

Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: اِحْتَالَ (iḥtāla)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Azerbaijani: atmaq (az)
Bengali: please add this translation if you can
Bulgarian: мамя (bg) (mamja)
Catalan: estafar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 欺詐 / 欺诈 (zh) (qīzhà), 騙局 / 骗局 (zh) (piànjú), 詐騙 / 诈骗 (zh) (zhàpiàn)
Dutch: oplichten (nl)
Esperanto: prifriponi
Estonian: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: vedättää (fi), huijata (fi)
French: entourlouper (fr), arnaquer (fr)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: betrügen (de)
Hebrew: הונה (he) (honá), רימה (he) (rimá)
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Italian: truffare (it), imbrogliare (it), raggirare (it), fregare (it)
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Khmer: ស៊ីឆ (sii cʰɑɑ), ឆីឆ (cʰəy-cʰɑɑ), បោកប្រាស់ (baok prah)
Latvian: please add this translation if you can
Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
Macedonian: и́змами pf (ízmami), ма́ми impf (mámi)
Portuguese: aplicar um golpe, lograr (pt)
Russian: обма́нывать (ru) (obmányvatʹ), кида́ть (ru) (kidátʹ)
Spanish: estafar (es), timar (es), sisar (es), tirar perro muerto
Swedish: lura (sv), scama (colloquial)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: dolandırmak (tr)
Vietnamese: lừa đảo (vi)
“scam v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present.
ACMs, ACSM, CAMs, CASM, CSMA, M. A. Sc., M.A.Sc., MACs, MASc, MCAs, Macs, SMAC, cams, macs, masc, masc.

Attested only in the plural form scaim. From Proto-Celtic *skamos. Cognate with Welsh ysgafn ("light") and Welsh ysgyfaint ("(pair of) lungs"), Breton skañv, Cornish skav.

scam

lung

Matasović, R. (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, p.339. Brill: Boston.

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