charade

• n.手信号に基づいて行われるジェスチャーゲーム。
• n.(シャレード)人の名前;(アラブの)シェレード。

char,gibberishからきている可能性がある。-ade, 名詞の接尾辞。

charade (n.)

1776, from French charade (18c.), probably from Proven?al charrado "long talk, chatter," of obscure origin, perhaps from charrar "to chatter, gossip," of echoic origin. Compare Italian ciarlare, Spanish charlar "to talk, prattle." Originally not silent, but relying rather on enigmatic descriptions of the words or syllables.

As we have ever made it a Rule to shew our Attention to the Reader, by 'catching the Manners living, as they rise,' as Mr. Pope expresses it, we think ourselves obliged to give Place to the following Specimens of a new Kind of SMALL WIT, which, for some Weeks past, has been the Subject of Conversation in almost every Society, from the Court to the Cottage. The CHARADE is, in fact, a near Relation of the old Rebus. It is usually formed from a Word of two Syllables; the first Syllable is described by the Writer; then the second; they are afterwards united and the whole Word marked out .... [supplement to "The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure," volumes 58-59, 1776]

Among the examples given are:

My first makes all nature appear of one face;
At the next we find music, and beauty and grace;
And, if this Charade is most easily read,
I think that the third shou'd be thrown at my head.

[The answer is "snow-ball."]

The silent form, the main modern form, was at first a variant known as dumb charades and at first it was not a speed contest; rather it adhered to the old pattern, and the performing team acted out all the parts in order before the audience team began to guess.

There is one species of charade which is performed solely by "dumb motions," somewhat resembling the child's game of "trades and professions"; but the acting charade is a much more amusing, and more difficult matter. ["Goldoni, and Modern Italian Comedy," in "The Foreign And Colonial Quarterly Review," Volume 6, 1846]

An 1850 book, "Acting Charades," reports that Charades en Action were all the rage in French society, and that "Lately, the game has been introduced into the drawing-rooms of a few mirth-loving Englishmen. Its success has been tremendous." Welsh siarad obviously is a loan-word from French or English, but its meaning of "speak, a talk" is closer to the Proven?al original.

1. I wondered why he had gone through the elaborate charade .

私にはわかりませんが、彼はなぜ周章を費やし、気取っているのか分かりません。

2.Their whole marriage had been a charade -they had never loved each other.

彼らの結婚はすべて芝居をしている-彼らは愛し合ったことがない。

3.He wasn 't really upset-his behaviour was just a charade .

彼は本当に心が乱れているわけではない--彼の行為はでたらめな偽装にすぎない。

4.I refused to go along with their pathetic charade .

私は彼らとその哀れな気取りをしないことを拒否した。

5.She struggled to maintain the charade of not being afraid.

彼女は恐れないふりをしようとした。