-gate

Back-formation from Watergate, an American political scandal from 1972–1974 which led to resignation of president Richard Nixon. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the suffix first appeared in a 1973 article in the National Lampoon magazine which referenced a rumoured "Volgagate".^[1] The suffix was promoted by New York Times columnist William Safire, who coined several -gate words beginning in 1974.

-gate

1. Combined with a relevant place, person, activity, etc. to form the names of scandals.
   • 2014 January 15, Alex Seitz-Wald, “How to Name a Scandal: What is a '- Gate' and What Is a '-Ghazi'?”, in The Atlantic‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2 April 2021:

     "-Ghazi" also shares convenient linguistic parallels with "-gate." They're both scandals that typify their category; they're both location names; they both start with the letter "g"; and they are both short enough to be used in headlines and attached to nouns identifying the scandal.

   • 2022 March 30, Tatum Hunter, “How to leave a bad online review without being a jerk”, in The Washington Post‎^[2], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 March 2022:

     Back in college, [Maddi] Filliater said she tweeted at a local sandwich shop about some alleged brown lettuce, and the business responded angrily: Why didn't she bring up the problem in person instead of attacking them on the Internet? Her friends refer to the incident as "LettuceGate."

• → Chinese: 門 / 门 (mén) (semantic loan)
• → French: -gate
• → German: -gate
• → Korean: 게이트 (geiteu)

• -ghazi

From Old English geat.

-gate

1. Used to form place names.

• “-gate”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “-gate”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “-gate”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• EGTA, ETag, Geat, e-tag, geat, geta

Borrowed from English -gate, from Watergate.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛt/

-gate m (plural -gates)

1. -gate (forms names of scandals)
   • 2012 June 8, “Up & Down”, in Grazia:

     C'est un quasi «currygate» qu'a provoqué Kim en confessant son dégoût de la nourriture indienne.

     Kim Kardashian triggered a virtual ‘currygate’ by confessing her dislike of Indian food.

Borrowed from English -gate, from Watergate.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛɪ̯t/, /ɡeːt/

• Audio:

  (file)

-gate n

1. -gate (forms names of scandals)

• de:-gate