A person easily deceived or taken advantage of, or alternatively, a shoot growing from the base or roots of a tree or plant.
Originally from Middle English 'sukken' meaning 'to suck,' referring to young mammals that suckle. The plant meaning emerged from the idea of shoots 'sucking' nutrients from the main plant. The 'gullible person' sense developed in American English around 1838, playing on the idea of someone being 'sucked in' by deception.
The word brilliantly captures how language evolves through metaphor - from a literal suckling action to plant biology to human psychology. P.T. Barnum allegedly said 'There's a sucker born every minute,' though he probably never actually said it, making the quote itself a perfect example of how people can be 'suckers' for false attributions.
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