Coined by Bible translator William Tyndale from 'escape + goat' — the biblical goat sent into the wilderness carrying the people's sins.
A person who is blamed for the wrongdoings or mistakes of others.
Coined by William Tyndale in his 1530 Bible translation, from 'escape + goat.' In Leviticus 16, one goat was sacrificed and a second was symbolically loaded with the people's sins, then driven into the wilderness to 'escape' — literally a goat that escapes, carrying everyone's guilt. Key roots: scape (English: "escape"), goat (English: "goat").
William Tyndale invented this word in 1530 and it's still in daily use 500 years later. The Hebrew 'azazel' (possibly a demon's name) was unclear to translators, so Tyndale creatively rendered it as 'escape goat' — the goat that carried sins away. The French translation, 'bouc émissaire' (emissary