Where does “betray” come from?

Betray comes from Middle English betrayen, which combined the prefix be- withtrayen, meaning "to hand over" or "to deliver."

betray (English): To deliver into the hands of an enemy by...

Definitions

  1. To deliver into the hands of an enemy by...

Ancestry of “betray”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishbetrayen—

Words derived from “betray”

Every word from Middle English betrayen →