scam

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See also: skam

English

Etymology

US 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.

The word "scam" became common use among the US "drug culture" in early 1980 after Operation ABSCAM, an FBI sting operation directed at public officials, became public.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: skăm, IPA(key): /skæm/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æm

Noun

scam (plural scams)

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

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Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To defraud or embezzle.
    Synonym: con
    They tried to scam her out of her savings.
  2. (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."

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Anagrams

Middle Irish

Etymology

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.

Noun

scam

  1. lung

References

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