illywhacker means A small-time confidence trickster or seller of trinkets. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
illywhacker is pronounced /ˈɪliwakə/.
Why “illywhacker” is a great word
A petty confidence trickster or seller of cheap trinkets. Its origin is uncertain; lexicographer Sidney Baker suggested it derives from 'illy' (a variant of 'eeler', from pig Latin 'eeler-spee' for 'spieler', meaning a slick talker) + 'whacker'. The verb phrase 'to whack the illy' is a back-formation from the noun. First recorded in Kylie Tennant's novel 'The Battlers' (1941). Unlike a 'con artist,' who orchestrates grand deceptions, or a 'huckster,' who merely hawks dubious wares, the illywhacker is a creature of minor, improvisational deceit. He is the man with the doctored watch at a country race-meet, the seller of 'lucky' stones by a dusty road, the purveyor of a story just plausible enough to last until the next town—a minor apostle of disappointment in a wide, sun-bleached land.
Etymology
Uncertain. Suggested by lexicographer Sidney Baker to derive from illy (variant of eeler, from pig Latin eeler-spee for spieler) + whacker. The verb form whack the illy is a back-formation from the noun.
noun
- A small-time confidence trickster or seller of trinkets.“‘What's an illywhacker?’ said Charles. ‘Spieler,’ explained Leah, who was not used to children.”