Etymograph

English

grifter

Grifter may come from English grafter ‘a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes’.

  1. English1500–presentgrafter‘a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1939grifter

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. English1500–presentgrafter‘a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1939grifter

Earliest quotation: 1939, Raymond Chandler: “We're all grifters. So we sell each other out…”

Formed from grift + -er

Middle Dutch graft ‘digging, ditch, canal, trench’

English grift

first attested First attested in 1906 (as stated in the etymology)

The story

From grift + -er; or probably an alteration of grafter (‘a corrupt person, one who accepts bribes’), which is essentially a doublet of the same word. Originally circus slang (carny; compare shill of similar semantics), gradually widened in sense. First attested in 1906; popularized online circa late 2010s.

Every English word from English grafter

Today it means

noun A con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / English grafter / grifter

Shirt and support for this word