scapegoat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Someone unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.

   He is making me a scapegoat for his own poor business decisions and the supply chain disruptions caused by the hurricane!

From scape + goat; coined by English biblical scholar and translator William Tyndale, interpreting Biblical Hebrew עֲזָאזֵל (“azazél”) (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26), from an interpretation as coming from עֵז (ez, “goat”) and אוזל (ozél, “escapes”). First attested 1530. Compare English scapegrace, scapegallows.

Topics