Tricky

How to spell tricky

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce tricky

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tricky mean?

1. adjectiveRequiring care, skill, or caution because it is complicated or easy to get wrong.
2. adjectiveInclined to deceive or use cunning to gain an advantage.

Tricky in a sentence

• Parking in the narrow lane is always tricky during rush hour.

• The salesman was a tricky character who hid the extra fees in the fine print.

• The final exam question was tricky and caught several students out.

• She gave him a tricky smile before revealing she had won the bet.

Where does tricky come from?

Language of origin: French

The word grows out of the noun 'trick', which English borrowed in the 1400s from Old French 'trique' or the related dialectal form 'trikier', meaning to deceive, cheat, or beguile. That French word traces back to the Latin 'tricae', which literally meant 'trifles', 'tangles', or 'vexing complications', the niggling little snags that get in your way. From the idea of a deceptive ploy, the noun gained the adjective form 'tricky' by the early 1700s, first describing a person given to trickery and then, more broadly, anything full of hidden snags or hard to handle. The spelling doubles the consonant simply because the base word ends in a 'ck', so the everyday '-y' suffix attaches cleanly without any drama; the chief trap is remembering it is one word, not 'tricky' versus a mistaken 'trickey'.

How the word is built

• trick (a clever or deceptive act)
• -y (adjective suffix meaning 'characterised by')