Cheated
verbActed dishonestly or unfairly in the past, especially to gain an advantage or to deceive someone.
How to spell cheated
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce cheated
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does cheated mean?
- verbActed dishonestly or unfairly in the past, especially to gain an advantage or to deceive someone.
Cheated in a sentence
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The contractor cheated several clients out of their deposits before vanishing.
-
He admitted he cheated on the final exam by copying answers.
Where does cheated come from?
Language of origin: French
The verb cheat is a shortened form of the Middle English word escheat, a legal term borrowed from Anglo-French eschete, which meant property that reverted to the lord or the state when an owner died without heirs. That word traces back to the Latin verb excidere, literally 'to fall away' or 'fall to', from ex 'out' and cadere 'to fall'. Because officials called escheators handled these reverted estates and were widely suspected of seizing more than they were owed, the clipped form 'cheat' came to mean to defraud or swindle by the 1500s. From there the sense broadened to cover deceiving anyone or breaking the rules of a game, and the past tense 'cheated' simply adds the regular -ed ending. The spelling keeps the 'ea' of the original syllable, so the silent reversal of fortune behind the word is hidden in plain sight.
How the word is built
- cheat (to deceive or defraud)
- -ed (past tense/participle suffix)
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