English
delude
Delude comes from Latin dēlūdō ‘mock, deceive’, and goes back to lūdō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElūdō‘to make sport of, to mock’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēlūdō‘mock, deceive’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deluden‘to delude or mislead, to fill people's mind with wrong’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1680delude
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElūdō‘to make sport of, to mock’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēlūdō‘mock, deceive’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deluden‘to delude or mislead, to fill people's mind with wrong’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1680delude
Earliest quotation: c. 1680, John Dryden: “It deludes thy search.”
Linked words
through Latin lūdō ‘to make sport of, to mock’
illusion, collusion, elusive, ludicrous, interlude, prelude, allude, allusive, collude, 18 more
through Latin dēlūdō ‘mock, deceive’
Today it means
verb To deceive into believing something which is false; to lead into error; to dupe.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin lūdō / delude