sleight of hand

English

Etymology

From Middle English slegthe of hande, sleght of hond, equivalent to sleight +‎ of +‎ hand.

Compare Old French léger de main (cf. the contemporary French léger de main and the contemporary English legerdemain).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

sleight of hand (countable and uncountable, plural sleights of hand)

1. The required hand dexterity behind magic tricks and illusions.
2. A performance of such skill.
3. (by extension, idiomatic) Any form of skillful deception.

Synonyms

• legerdemain
• prestidigitation

Translations

skill

• Catalan: prestidigitació f
• Dutch: vingervlugheid (nl)
• Finnish: sorminäppäryys
• French: escamotage (fr) m, tour de main (fr) m
• Galician: prestidixitación (gl) f
• German: Fingerfertigkeit f
• Greek: ταχυδακτυλουργία (el) f (tachydaktylourgía)

  Ancient: ὀξυχειρία f (oxukheiría)

• Italian: prestidigitazione (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: taskenspillerkunst m, knep (no) n, fingerferdighet m or f

• Persian: تردستی (fa) (tardasti)
• Portuguese: prestidigitação (pt) f, passe-passe m, ilusionismo (pt) m
• Russian: ло́вкость рук f (lóvkostʹ ruk)
• Serbo-Croatian: opsena (sh) f
• Spanish: escamoteo (es) m, prestidigitación (es) f
• Swedish: fingerfärdighet (sv) c
• Tagalog: bilis ng kamay
• Urdu: ہاتھ میں صَفائی (hāth mẽ safāī)
• Welsh: deheurwydd m

performance

• Armenian: աճպարարություն (hy) (ačpararutʻyun)
• Catalan: joc de mans m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 花招 (faa¹ ziu¹)

• Dutch: goocheltoer
• Finnish: silmänkääntötemppu (fi)
• French: tour de main (fr) m, tour de passe-passe (fr) m
• German: Taschenspielertrick (de) m
• Greek: ταχυδακτυλουργία (el) f (tachydaktylourgía)
• Hungarian: mutatvány (hu), bűvészmutatvány (hu)
• Latin: praestīgiae f pl
• Portuguese: prestidigitação (pt) f, passe-passe m
• Spanish: escamoteo (es) m, juego de manos (es) m
• Swedish: trick (sv) n, knep (sv) n

skillful deception

• Catalan: joc de mans, joc de vilans
• Finnish: silmänkääntötemppu (fi)