A Sucker Is a Plant, a Sweet and a Dupe
A sucker sucks. The word covers a lollipop, a shoot growing from a root, an octopus's grip, and a person easily fooled.
A sucker is anything that sucks, and English has taken that in several directions at once. A lollipop is a sucker in American English; a shoot growing from a plant's root is a sucker; an octopus has hundreds of them; and a person easily deceived has been a sucker since the 1830s — from the image of an unweaned animal, still sucking and easily led.
- Someone easily fooled. *Don't be a sucker.*
- A lollipop (American). *A cherry sucker.*
- A shoot from a root. *Cut the suckers off.*
- A suction organ. *Octopus suckers.*
- A sucker for — unable to resist. *A sucker for old films.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | suck | Suck through a straw. |
| Agent | sucker | A born sucker. |
| Plural | suckers | Rubber suckers. |
| Verb | sucker | He was suckered. |
| Compound | sucker punch | A sucker punch. |
- I'm a sucker for a good ghost story.Affectionate self-description.
- Prune the suckers from the base.Gardening.
- It was a sucker punch, delivered without warning.Boxing, then figurative.
There's a sucker born every minute
- Usually attributed to the showman P. T. Barnum
- No good evidence that he ever said it
- A rival claim points to a competitor or a banker of the period
- Barnum's actual line was closer to a defence of giving people their money's worth
- A common pattern — memorable quotations drift towards famous names
From *suck*, Old English *sucan*, plus the agent ending -er. The sense of a gullible person is American and dates from the 1830s.
Did Barnum say there's a sucker born every minute?
There is no reliable evidence that he did. The line was attached to his name later, as quotations often are.
What is a sucker punch?
An unexpected blow delivered without warning. It comes from boxing and is now used for any sudden setback.