The story
- Irish · borrowed fromcam“crooked”
- English todayscam
US American carnival slang of uncertain origin. Possibly from scamp (“swindler, cheater”) or Irish cam (“crooked”). Also possibly from Danish skam; if so, it would be a doublet of shame and sham. First use appears c. 1963 in the periodical Time. The word became common use among the US drug culture when in early 1980, after Operation ABSCAM, an FBI sting operation directed at public officials, became public.
Words from the same roots
Irishcam all →
gammy
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.