The practice, act, or instance of cheating or deception; a place or situation involving fraud.
From 'cheat' (Middle English via Old French 'escheat') + suffix '-ery' (from Old French '-erie'). The '-ery' suffix originally meant a place where something is done, then expanded to mean a practice or condition of that thing.
Medieval and Early Modern English speakers loved '-ery' suffixes—they had 'knavery,' 'roguery,' and 'cheatery' for various types of misbehavior. It's a window into how communities once had specific words for types of wrongdoing that made social policing feel organized and named.
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