blackmail

Etymology
From +. Compare 🇨🇬.

The word is variously derived from the tribute paid by English and Scottish border dwellers to Border Reivers in return for immunity from raids and other harassment. This tribute was paid in goods or labour, in reditus nigri "blackmail"; the opposite is blanche firmes or reditus albi "white rent", denoting payment by silver.

McKay derives it from two words, pronounced (the th silent) bl-aich, "to protect" and. He notes that the practice was common in the Highlands of Scotland as well as the Borders.

More likely, from +, , , from , from ; related to Old English , , Gothic , from , ultimately from. From the practice of freebooting clan chieftains who ran protection rackets against Scottish farmers. Black from the evil of the practice.

Expanded c.1826 to any type of extortion money. Compare silver mail "rent paid in money" (1590s); buttock-mail (Scottish, 1530s) "fine imposed for fornication."

Noun

 * 1) The extortion of money or favours by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure.
 * 2)  A form of protection money (or corn, cattle, etc.) anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to the allies of robbers in order to be spared from pillage.
 * 3)  Black rent, or rent paid in corn, meat, or the lowest coin, as opposed to white rent, which was paid in silver.
 * 4) Compromising material that can be used to extort someone,.

Translations

 * Albanian:
 * Arabic: اِبْتِزَاز
 * Armenian: ,
 * Azerbaijani: şantaj
 * Basque: xantaia
 * Belarusian: шанта́ж, вымага́льніцтва
 * Bengali: ব্ল্যাকমেইল
 * Bulgarian: ,
 * Catalan: xantatge
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, , , , ,
 * Czech:
 * Danish: afpresning, pengeafpresning
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: ĉantaĝo
 * Estonian: ,
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * Galician:
 * Georgian: შანტაჟი
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Ancient Greek: ἐκβιασμός
 * Hebrew: סְחִיטַת
 * Hindi: भयादोहन, ब्लैकमेल
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic:
 * Ido:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: ,
 * Kazakh:
 * Khmer: បស័យ្ហគ្រាស
 * Korean:, 강청(強請)
 * Kyrgyz:
 * Lao: ການຂູ່ເອົາເງິນ
 * Latvian: šantāža
 * Lithuanian: šantažas
 * Luxembourgish: Chantage
 * Macedonian: уцена
 * Malagasy:
 * Maltese: rikatt
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: utpressing, utpresning
 * Persian:, باج‌گیری,
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:, ,
 * Scots: blackmail
 * Scottish Gaelic: màl dubh
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: у̏цена, у̏цјена
 * Roman: ,
 * Slovak: vydieranie
 * Slovene: izsiljevanje
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swedish:
 * Tajik:, таҳдид
 * Thai: การรีดเอาทรัพย์, รีดเอาทรัพย์, แบล็กเมล์
 * Turkish:
 * Turkmen: şantaž
 * Ukrainian: шанта́ж, вимага́ння
 * Urdu: بِلَیک میل
 * Uzbek:

Verb

 * 1)  To extort money or favors from (a person) by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, such as injury to reputation, distress of mind, false accusation, etc.
 * He blackmailed a businesswoman by threatening to expose an alleged fraud.
 * 1)  To speak ill of someone; to defame someone.

Translations

 * Arabic: اِبْتِزَازَ
 * Armenian: շանտաժի ենթարկել
 * Belarusian: шантажы́раваць, вымага́ць
 * Bulgarian:, изну́дя, шантажи́рам
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, , , , ,
 * Czech: vydírat
 * Danish: afpresse
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: ĉantaĝi
 * Finnish:
 * French: faire du chantage,
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Ancient Greek: ἐκβιάζω, συκοφαντέω
 * Hebrew:
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic: kúga fé út úr e-m
 * Ido:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: ,
 * Korean:
 * Luxembourgish: erpressen
 * Macedonian: уценува, уцени
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: utpresse
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Romanian:
 * Russian: ,
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: уце́нити, уције́нити
 * Roman: ,
 * Slovak: vydierať
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:, pressa ut
 * Thai: รีดเอาทรัพย์
 * Ukrainian: шантажува́ти, вимага́ти
 * Vietnamese: doạ tố giác

Etymology
From.

Noun

 * 1)  A tribute paid, usually in kind, to reivers or raiders as a form of protection money.
 * 2) Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation.

Verb

 * 1) To extort money from another by means of intimidation.