cheat Look up cheat at Dictionary.com
late 14c., aphetic of O.Fr. escheat, legal term for revision of property to state when owner dies without heirs, lit. "that which falls to one," pp. of escheoir "befall by chance, happen, devolve," from V.L. *excadere "to fall away," from L. ex- "out" + cadere "to fall" (see case (1)). Meaning evolved through "confiscate" (mid-15c.) to "deprive unfairly" (1590). To cheat on (someone) "be sexually unfaithful" first recorded 1934.