Today's Word "Chicane"
on
Published in Vocabulary
chicane \shi-KEYN\ - 1 : (noun) An obstacle in a race course or a series of tight turns in opposite directions in a road-racing course. 2 : (verb) To trick, cheat; to use chicanery.
"It seems as though every time we start to make progress, a telephone call introduces another chicane we have to negotiate."
From the French chicane "zig-zag, squabble". How it came into French is unknown but the verb, chicaner, quickly came to mean "quibble, obstruct justice." This is how chicanery "devious, deceitful trick or trickery" evolved. This is another of those French words like chic in which the "ch" is pronounced "sh".
Comments