It's the word of the day for March 15th.
Today's word is stratagem, spelled S-T-R-A-T-A-G-E-M.
Stratagem is a noun.
A stratagem is a trick or plan for deceiving an enemy or for achieving a goal.
Here's the word used in a sentence from The New York Times by Liesel Schillinger.
In one illustration of the mashup of sacred and superstitious,
author Tabitha Stanmore describes a trial by combat to win Sherburn Castle.
The devious bishop sowed prayers and charms into his fighter's coat to give him an edge.
The stratagem was discovered, but the cunning cleric won the castle and kept his mitre.
A stratagem is any clever scheme,
sometimes one that's part of an overall strategy that is a carefully prepared plan of action.
The word stratagem entered English in the 15th century and was originally used in reference to some artifice,
such as a military plan or maneuver, that was designed to deceive or outwit the enemy.
This military sense can be traced back to the words Greek ancestor stratagine,
meaning to act as a general.
Stratagine, in turn, comes from strategos, meaning general,
which comes from stratos, camp or army, and again, meaning to lead.
Strategos is an ancestor of strategy as well.
That word arrived in English more than a century after stratagem.
With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.