noun Informal.
- Usually shenanigans.
- mischief; prankishness: Halloween shenanigans.
- deceit; trickery.
- a mischievous or deceitful trick, practice, etc.
noun informal
- (usually plural) roguishness; mischief
- an act of treachery; deception
n.1855, of uncertain origin. Earliest records of it are in San Francisco and Sacramento, California, U.S. Suggestions include Spanish chanada, a shortened form of charranada “trick, deceit;” or, less likely, German Schenigelei, peddler’s argot for “work, craft,” or the related German slang verb schinäglen. Another guess centers on Irish sionnach “fox.”