Chicanery \shih-KAY-nuh-ree\, noun;
1. The use of trickery or sophistry to deceive (as in matters of law)
2. A trick; subterfuge
How apropos for Halloween...chicanery or treat!
According to Etymonline.com:
Dating to 1600, the word comes from French chicanerie ("trickery"), which derives from Middle French chicaner ("to pettifog, quibble"). Chicaner perhaps comes from Middle Low German schikken ("to arrange, bring about") or from the name of a golf-like game once played in Languedoc.
According to the OED, this word was once more anglicized, spelled chicanry.
*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Sunday, October 31
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