Etymology

salami tactics

Today it means: The piecemeal removal or scaling back of something (especially political opposition); a gradual attack on an opposing position, group, etc. Full definition →

Hungarian szalámitaktika
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Hungarian · calque ofszalámitaktika
  2. English todaysalami tactics

Calque of Hungarian szalámitaktika, coined by Hungarian communist Mátyás Rákosi to describe the method, "cutting them off like slices of salami", by which the ruling Hungarian Working People's Party dealt with dissidents under his leadership.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.