deceit 的詞源

約公元1300年，「詭計，背叛，撒謊」，來自古法語 deceite，為 deceveir, decevoir 的女性過去分詞，源自拉丁語 decipere「誘捕，欺騙，欺詐」，來自 de「從」或貶義（參見 de-）+ capere「拿」，來自原始印歐語根 *kap-「抓住」。

從14世紀中期開始，作為「欺騙的行為或實踐」，也作為「虛假的外觀，幻覺」。從14世紀晚期開始，作為「虛假或誤導的特質」。

Deceit is a shorter and more energetic word for deceitfulness, indicating the quality; it is also, but more rarely, used to express the act or manner of deceiving. The reverse is true of deception, which is properly the act or course by which one deceives, and not properly the quality; it may express the state of being deceived. Fraud is an act or series of acts of deceit by which one attempts to benefit himself at the expense of others. It is generally a breaking of the law; the others are not. [Century Dictionary]

Deceit 是一個較短且更有活力的詞，用於表示欺騙的特質；它也可以，但較少用於表示欺騙的行為或方式。相反，deception 正確地表示一個人欺騙的行為或過程，而不正確地表示特質；它可以表示被欺騙的狀態。Fraud 是一種或一系列的欺騙行為，通過這些行為，一個人試圖以他人的代價來獲益。這通常是違法的；其他的則不是。[世紀詞典]