legerdemain
/ˌlɛd͡ʒ.ə.dɨˈmeɪn/
Etymology
From Middle English legerdemeyn, lechardemane, from Old French léger de main (literally “light of hand”), a phrase that meant “dexterous, skillful at fooling others (especially through sleights of hand)”, which was however treated as a noun when it was borrowed by late Middle English. The Modern French descendant léger de main of the Old French phrase is archaic but still sometimes found in older literature and simply means “skillful” without any connotation of sleight of hand.
legerdemain means sleight of hand; "magic" trickery. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 76 out of 100.
legerdemain is pronounced /ˌlɛd͡ʒ.ə.dɨˈmeɪn/.
Why “legerdemain” is a great word
LEGERDEMAIN — [Noun] Skillful sleight of hand used in performing tricks or acts of deception. From Middle English *legerdemeyn*, from Old French *léger de main*, literally meaning 'light of hand' (*léger* 'light' + *de* 'of' + *main* 'hand'). Unlike *prestidigitation*, which sparkles with the specific theater of magic, or *chicanery*, which reeks of legalistic dodges, legerdemain retains both its manual specificity and a wider, metaphorical shadow. It is the coin that vanishes into a fold of practiced skin, the false shuffle of a three-card monte dealer, and the politician's deft pivot that makes a promise disappear—a quiet philosophy of deception as a physical craft, reminding us that the most convincing lies are not told, but performed.
noun
- Sleight of hand; "magic" trickery.“For he in slights and jugling feates did flow, / And of legierdemayne the mysteries did know.”
- A show of skill or deceitful ability.“Certainly, that they are to this day so rife in Italy and Spain, and so scant in Britain, is a shrewd ground to apprehend Legerdemain, and forgery, in the accounts we get of their later Saints.”