decoy.
A person or object meant to lure somebody into danger.
Meaning & usage
A person or object meant to lure somebody into danger.
A real or fake animal used by hunters to lure game.
Deceptive military device used to draw enemy attention or fire away from a more important target.
An assembly of hooped or netted corridors into which wild ducks may be enticed (originally by tame ducks) and trapped.
Where this word comes from
From Dutch de + kooi, literally "the cage". Possibly related to verb coy (which itself may have been influenced by decoy).
To lead into danger by artifice; to lure into a net or snare; to entrap.
To act as, or use, a decoy.
As they were being decoyed, the rescue team carried the hostage and quietly slipped away.
Where this word comes from
From Dutch de + kooi, literally "the cage". Possibly related to verb coy (which itself may have been influenced by decoy).
Try it on your idea.
decoy has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.