perfidy
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perfidy
- /ˈpɜː.fɪ.di/ UK
- /ˈpɝ.fɪ.di/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle French perfidie, from Latin perfidia from perfidus (“faithless, treacherous, false”), from fides (“faith”); related to, for example, English fidelity.
noun perfidies
-
A state or act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust.
Similar: betrayal, treachery, perfidiousness, breach of promise, breach of trust, double-dealing, Judas kiss, perfidy, prodition, Punic faith, stab in the back, swike
- An illegitimate act of deception, such as using symbols like the Red Cross or white flag in a false claim of surrender to gain proximity to an enemy for purposes of attack. Stratagems must be carefully distinguished strategy from perfidy, since the former are allowed, whereas the latter is prohibited.
-
A state or act of deceit.
Germans could not get over the perfidy of it. It was unbelievable that the English, having degenerated to the stage where suffragettes heckled the Prime Minister and defied the police, were going to fight.
Similar: perfidiousness, underhandedness, trickery, deceit, deceitfulness, deceptiveness, dissimulation, duplicity, fraudulence, fraudulency, perfidy, deception
Translations
Every language
noun false deception of surrender or peace which will be broken
| Русский | вероло́мство verolómstvo |
|---|
noun the act of violating faith or allegiance
| Español | perfidia |
|---|---|
| Português | perfídia |
| Français | perfidie |
| Română | perfidie |
| Русский | вероло́мство verolómstvo, изме́на izména, преда́тельство predátelʹstvo |
Talk about this word "perfidy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/perfidy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. perfidy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/perfidy "perfidy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/perfidy.Cite this
@misc{perfidy_2026,
title = {perfidy},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/perfidy},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
