cheat

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun weedy annual grass often occurs in grainfields and other cultivated land; seeds sometimes considered poisonous
  2. noun weedy annual native to Europe but widely distributed as a weed especially in wheat
  3. noun someone who leads you to believe something that is not true

Etymology

Verb from Middle English achetan, variant of escheten, from Old French escheat, past participle of escheoir, escheoiter, from Late Latin *excadēre (“fall away, fall out”), from (Latin) ex- + cadere (“fall”). Displaced native Old English beswīcan. Noun from verb and/or Middle English chete, aphetic form of achete, escheat, eschete (“the reversion of property to the state”), from Anglo-Norman eschete and Old French eschet, escheit, escheoit (“that which falls to one”), past participle of escheoir (“to fall”) (modern French échoir), from Late Latin *excadēre (“fall away, fall out”), from (Latin) ex- + cadere (“fall”). Doublet of escheat.

In classic literature

Synonyms

darnel, tare, bearded darnel, Lolium temulentum

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