Etymology: Derivation and history unknown.

Etymology: Decoy , in all its senses (except 4a) and combinations, was preceded by a simple form coy n.¹ (known in 1621), < Dutch kooi of the same meaning. Thus senses 1, 3 are identical with 1 and 3 of coy n.¹; sense 2 is a figurative use of 1; 4b; and 5 are closely related to 3. The combinations decoy-bird , -dog , -duck , -man , etc., were preceded generally by the forms coy-bird , -dog , -duck , -man , etc. It is thus evident that de-coy is a derivative, compound, or extension, of coy n.¹; but the origin of the de- is undetermined. It has been variously conjectured to be the prefix de- prefix, the Dutch article in de kooi ‘the coy’ or ‘decoy’, the second half of Dutch eende in eende-kooi ‘duck-coy’, and an obscuration of duck itself in duck-coy , which is indeed found in the 17th cent., and (what is notable) not merely as the noun, but as the verb (see below). Yet we do not find it as the earlier form, which suggests that it is really a later spelling of popular etymology. The likelihood that decoy is the Dutch de kooi has been forcibly urged by C. Stoffel in Englische Studien X. (1887) 180. But direct evidence is wanting. And, since decoy n.¹ appears to be an entirely distinct word, being much older in the language than either this word or coy itself, and was probably still in use when coy was introduced from Dutch, it is possible that the latter was made into de-coy under the influence of that earlier word. It is to be noted also that the sense ‘sharper’, 4a below, actually appears earlier than any other, literal or figurative, and may possibly not be a sense of this word at all, but an independent and earlier cant or slang term; if so, it may also have influenced the change of coy to decoy.

Etymology: See decoy n.²The verb is considerably later than decoy n.², and its earliest examples are spelt duccoy , duckoy ; it was evidently formed directly < decoy n.², of which it reflects the contemporary varieties of spelling.