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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

trapan.

An act of entrapping or tricking; an entrapment; also, a thing which entraps or tricks; a snare or trap; a stratagem or trick.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/tɹəˈpæn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. An act of entrapping or tricking; an entrapment; also, a thing which entraps or tricks; a snare or trap; a stratagem or trick.

  2. A person (or occasionally an animal) that traps or tricks another into doing something that benefits them but harms the victim; a fraudster, a swindler, a trickster.

    archaic · obsolete
Where this word comes from

The origin of the noun is uncertain; etymology 1, noun sense 2 (“person that traps or tricks another”), the original sense, was probably thieves’ cant and may be derived from trap (noun or verb). Etymology 1, noun sense 1 (“act of entrapping or tricking; thing which entraps or tricks”) is from the verb. The verb is derived from etymology 1, noun sense 2 of the noun.

verb/tɹəˈpæn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To catch or entrap (a person or animal) in a snare or trap; to ensnare, to trap.

    transitive
  2. To trap or trick (someone), especially by using some stratagem, into doing something that benefits the perpetrator but harms the victim; to defraud, to ensnare, to entrap, to swindle.

    figuratively · transitive
Where this word comes from

The origin of the noun is uncertain; etymology 1, noun sense 2 (“person that traps or tricks another”), the original sense, was probably thieves’ cant and may be derived from trap (noun or verb). Etymology 1, noun sense 1 (“act of entrapping or tricking; thing which entraps or tricks”) is from the verb. The verb is derived from etymology 1, noun sense 2 of the noun.

noun/tɹəˈpæn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Alternative spelling of trepan (“surgical instrument used to remove a small section of bone, usually from the skull; tool used to bore through rock, etc.”).

    alt-of · alternative · transitive
Where this word comes from

See trepan.

verb/tɹəˈpæn/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Alternative spelling of trepan (“to cut through bone, usually the skull, using a trepan (etymology 2, noun sense); to create a large hole by making a narrow groove outlining the shape of the hole and then removing the plug of material”)

    alt-of · alternative · transitive
Where this word comes from

See trepan.

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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.