One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
Synonyms of con in English:
con
See definition of con
verb
1‘she was jailed for conning her aunt out of £500,000’
swindle, defraud, cheat, trick, fleece, dupe, deceive, rook, exploit, squeeze, milk, bleed
fool, take advantage of, mislead, delude, hoax, hoodwink, bamboozle, string along
embezzle
do, sting, diddle, fiddle, swizzle, swizz, rip off, take for a ride, pull a fast one on, pull the wool over someone's eyes, put one over on, sell a pup to, take to the cleaners, bilk, gull, finagle, gazump
North American stiff, euchre, bunco, hornswoggle
archaic cozen, sharp
rare mulct
noun
1‘a public relations con’
swindle, deception, trick, racket, bit of sharp practice, fraud
scam, con trick, sting, gyp, kite, diddle, rip-off, fiddle, swizzle, swizz
North American bunco, boondoggle, hustle, grift
Australian rort