turncoat

See also: turn-coat and turn coat

English

WOTD – 13 May 2010

Etymology

A compound of turn +‎ coat, reportedly derived from the sometime military practice of wearing uniform coats that were lined in material of a contrasting color, and which could be worn inside out to present a different appearance.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtəːn.kəʊt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɝn.koʊt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

turncoat (plural turncoats)

1. A traitor; one who turns against a previous affiliation or allegiance.

   Synonyms: apostate, defector, renegade

   • #*
     1711 [December?] (date written), Jonathan Swift, “An Excellent New Song. Being the Intended Speech of a Famous Orator against Peace [i.e., Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham].”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 72:

     But some will cry Turncoat, and rip up old stories, / How I always pretended to be for the tories: […]

Alternative forms

• turn-coat, turn coat

Derived terms

• turncoat witness

Translations

traitor

• Armenian: ռենեգատ (hy) (ṙenegat), ուրացող (hy) (uracʻoġ), դավաճան (hy) (davačan), փախստակ (hy) (pʻaxstak)
• Bashkir: хыянатсы (xıyanatsı), хаин (xain), һатлыҡ (hatlıq)
• Belarusian: рэнэга́т m (renehát), перабе́жчык m (pjerabjéžčyk), здра́днiк m (zdrádnik) (traitor)
• Bulgarian: изменник (bg) m (izmennik), ренегат (bg) (renegat)
• Catalan: trànsfuga m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 叛徒 (zh) (pàntú)

• Danish: vendekåbe c
• Dutch: renegaat (nl) m, afvallige (nl) m, deserteur (nl) m, verrader (nl) m
• Finnish: takinkääntäjä (fi)
• French: renégat (fr), apostat (fr), traître (fr)
• Galician: virachaquetas, chaqueteiro, defector, traidor, desertor
• German: Überläufer (de) m, Überläuferin (de) f
• Hungarian: köpönyegforgató (hu)
• Irish: cat breac m
• Italian: voltagabbana (it) m or f, pentito (it) m, traditore (it) m, giravolta (it), banderuola (it)
• Japanese: 裏切り者 (ja)
• Macedonian: вртикапа m (vrtikapa)
• Norwegian: forræder (no) m, overløper m
• Polish: zdrajca (pl)
• Portuguese: vira-casaca m or f
• Russian: (literary) (contemptuous) ренега́т (ru) m (renegát), (contemptuous) перебе́жчик (ru) m (perebéžčik), преда́тель (ru) m (predátelʹ)
• Spanish: tránsfuga (es), rajeta (es), veleta (es), renegado (es), chaquetero (es)
• Swahili: popo (sw)
• Swedish: kappvändare c, någon som vänder kappan efter vinden (sv), överlöpare (sv)
• Ukrainian: ренега́т m (renehát), перебі́жчик m (perebížčyk), пере́вертень m (perévertenʹ), зра́дник m (zrádnyk) (traitor)
• Welsh: gwrthgiliwr m

Verb

turncoat (third-person singular simple present turncoats, present participle turncoating, simple past and past participle turncoated)

1. To act as a turncoat; to betray

Translations

to betray

• Finnish: kääntää takkinsa