betray

Signification

1. To deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust; to give up treacherously or faithlessly.
2. To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive.
3. To violate the confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known.
4. To disclose (a secret, etc.) in deliberate violation of someone’s confidence.
5. To disclose or indicate, for example something which prudence would conceal; to reveal unintentionally.
6. To mislead; to expose to inconvenience not foreseen; to lead into error or sin.
7. To lead astray; to seduce (as under promise of marriage) and then abandon.

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/bɪˈtɹeɪ/

Étymologie

From Middle English betrayen, betraien, equivalent to be- + tray (“to betray”).
further etymology information
Middle English bi- is from Old English be- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near, by”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near”). Compare also traitor, treason, tradition. The modern sense “to disclose, discover, reveal unintentionally” is due to influence from or merger with English bewray (“to reveal, divulge”), which is similar in sound and meaning. The similarity with German betrügen, Dutch bedriegen, from Proto-West Germanic *bidreugan (“to betray, deceive”), is coincidental.