noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ʃɪˈnænɪɡ(ə)n/
General-American:/ʃəˈnænəɡən/
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:SH AH0 N AE1 N IH0 G AH0 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
singular of shenanigans: a deceitful confidence trick; also, an act of mischief; a prank, a trick; an act of mischievous play, especially by children.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
The origin of the noun is uncertain. As the earliest attestations are from California, U.S.A., in the 1850s towards the end of the California gold rush (see the quotations), it is possible that the word derives from one of the following: * Irish sionnachuighim (“to play tricks”, literally “to play the fox”); Irishmen were among the people participating in the gold rush. (See also the 31 December 1854 quotation suggesting it is an “Irish word”.) * Spanish chanada, a shortening of charranada (“deceit, trick”); California was colonized by the Spanish Empire in the 18th century, and many people from Latin America also took part in the gold rush. Other suggestions are set out in the table below. possible etymologies * From the East Anglian dialectal word nannicking (“playing the fool”). * From French ces manigances (“these fraudulent schemes”). * From German Scheinheilige (“sham holy men; sham holy actions”), scheinheilig (“hypocritical”) (18th c.) * From Rhine Franconian schinägeln (“to work hard”), from the peddler’s argot term Schenigelei (“work”). The verb is derived from the noun.
