Etymology

illusion

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Today it means: A distortion of sensory perception where real stimuli lead to a false or misleading impression of reality. Full definition →

Old French illusion ← Latin illūsiō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromillūsiō
  2. Old French · derived fromillusion
  3. English todayillusion

From Old French illusion, from Latin illūsiō, from illūdere, from in- (“at, upon”) + lūdere (“to play, mock, trick”). Displaced native Old English dwimmer.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.