Misdeals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of incorrectly assigning items, leading to unequal or erroneous distributions
2. Situations in which resources are mishandled during allocation, causing misunderstandings or inequities
3. The act of giving out items or cards improperly, resulting in a flawed arrangement

Etymology: "Misdeals" is the plural of "misdeal," which in card games means a faulty dealing of the cards, with the wrong number handed out or cards dealt in the wrong order. The word is a simple compound: the prefix "mis-" (from Old English, meaning "wrongly" or "amiss") joined to "deal." That English "deal" traces back to Old English "dǣlan," meaning to divide or share out, and ultimately to a Germanic root tied to dividing a portion. So the core idea is a wrong division of a portion, which is why the word now covers any faulty sharing out of items, not just cards. The "mis-" prefix has been part of English since Old English, when it carried the sense of error or wrongness. Pairing it with "deal" produced a word whose literal sense is "dealt wrongly." Its plural form simply counts separate instances of such errors.

Synonyms: frauds, scams