# scapegoat

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈskeɪpˌɡoʊt/ · frequency rank #25,197

## Definitions
1. In the Mosaic Day of Atonement ritual, a goat symbolically imbued with the sins of the people, and sent out alive into the wilderness while another was sacrificed.
2. Someone unfairly blamed or punished for some failure.

## Etymology
From scape + goat; coined by English biblical scholar and translator William Tyndale, interpreting Biblical Hebrew עֲזָאזֵל (“azazél”) (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26), from an interpretation as coming from עֵז (ez, “goat”) and אוזל (ozél, “escapes”). First attested 1530. Compare English scapegrace, scapegallows.

## Common misspellings (13)
`csapegoat`, `sacpegoat`, `scaepgoat`, `scapegaot`, `scapeggoat`, `scapegoatt`, `scapegota`, `scapeogat`, `scapgeoat`, `scappegoat`, `sccapegoat`, `scpaegoat`, `sscapegoat`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/scapegoat