Word of the Day
: January 11, 2025cozen
playWhat It Means
To cozen someone is to deceive, win over, or induce them to do something by coaxing or trickery.
// The organization cozened scores of people by persuading them to participate in a fraudulent investment scheme.
cozen in Context
“It’s only office seekers with no real solutions who rely on cozening the voter.” — The News-Gazette (Lexington, Virginia), 21 June 2023
Did You Know?
Despite its resemblance to the adjective cozy, the verb cozen has nothing to do with being comfortable. Used in contexts relating to deception or inducement by clever coaxing or trickery, the word is believed to come ultimately from the Italian word for a horse trader, cozzone. Horse-trading, as in the actual swapping of horses, often involves bargaining and compromise—and, in fact, the term horse trade has come to refer to any shrewd negotiation, whether it involves equines or no. Horse traders have historically had a reputation for being less than completely transparent in negotiations, which explains the likely connection between cozzone and cozen’s use in deceiving or winning someone to one’s cause through trickery.
