A compound of turn + coat, reportedly derived from the sometime military practice of wearing uniform coats that were lined in material of a contrasting color, and which could be worn inside out to present a different appearance.
turncoat (plural turncoats)
- A traitor; one who turns against a previous affiliation or allegiance.
- Synonyms: apostate, defector, renegade
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1711 [December?] (date written), Jonathan Swift, “An Excellent New Song. Being the Intended Speech of a Famous Orator against Peace [i.e., Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham].”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 72:But some will cry Turncoat, and rip up old stories, / How I always pretended to be for the tories: […]
traitor
- Armenian: ռենեգատ (hy) (ṙenegat), ուրացող (hy) (uracʻoġ), դավաճան (hy) (davačan), փախստակ (hy) (pʻaxstak)
- Bashkir: хыянатсы (xıyanatsı), хаин (xain), һатлыҡ (hatlıq)
- Belarusian: рэнэга́т m (renehát), перабе́жчык m (pjerabjéžčyk), здра́днiк m (zdrádnik) (traitor)
- Bulgarian: изменник (bg) m (izmennik), ренегат (bg) (renegat)
- Catalan: trànsfuga m or f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 叛徒 (zh) (pàntú)
- Danish: vendekåbe c
- Dutch: renegaat (nl) m, afvallige (nl) m, deserteur (nl) m, verrader (nl) m
- Finnish: takinkääntäjä (fi)
- French: renégat (fr), apostat (fr), traître (fr)
- Galician: virachaquetas, chaqueteiro, defector, traidor, desertor
- German: Überläufer (de) m, Überläuferin (de) f
- Hungarian: köpönyegforgató (hu)
- Irish: cat breac m
- Italian: voltagabbana (it) m or f, pentito (it) m, traditore (it) m, giravolta (it), banderuola (it)
- Japanese: 裏切り者 (ja)
- Macedonian: вртикапа m (vrtikapa)
- Norwegian: forræder (no) m. overløper m
- Polish: zdrajca (pl)
- Portuguese: vira-casaca m or f
- Russian: (literary) (contemptuous) ренега́т (ru) m (renegát), (contemptuous) перебе́жчик (ru) m (perebéžčik), преда́тель (ru) m (predátelʹ)
- Spanish: tránsfuga (es), rajeta (es), veleta (es), renegado (es), chaquetero (es)
- Swahili: popo (sw)
- Swedish: kappvändare c, någon som vänder kappan efter vinden (sv), överlöpare (sv)
- Ukrainian: ренега́т m (renehát), перебі́жчик m (perebížčyk), пере́вертень m (perévertenʹ), зра́дник m (zrádnyk) (traitor)
- Welsh: gwrthgiliwr m
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turncoat (third-person singular simple present turncoats, present participle turncoating, simple past and past participle turncoated)
- To act as a turncoat; to betray
