Meaning
A person who abandons their party, cause or allegiance and joins the opposing side, especially for personal advantage, and is therefore regarded as a deserter or traitor by those they left. Strongly derogatory, and applied to politics, business, sport and opinion alike. Strongly derogatory; implies betrayal done for advantage. Regional use: General English.
Origin
Recorded from the 1550s: Etymonline gives 1557 for the compound turn plus coat, and Merriam-Webster dates the first known use to circa 1566. The standard explanation is that a follower turned his coat inside out to conceal the badge or colours of the lord or party he served, outer garments then displaying heraldic badges; the verb phrase to turn one's coat, meaning to change sides, is recorded from the 1570s. That derivation is plausible and widely repeated, but it is reconstruction rather than documented fact. A rival anecdote credits a Duke of Saxony, whose lands lay between rival powers and who supposedly wore a reversible coat showing whichever colour suited him; no contemporary evidence supports the story, and it should be treated as legend.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- turn one's coat
Usage Examples
- Former colleagues branded him a turncoat after he crossed the floor to join the government benches.
- To her old coalition partners she remained a turncoat; to the voters, a pragmatist.
- The history of espionage is full of turncoats who changed sides for money rather than conviction.