'bamboozle' is recorded in early 18th-century English; its exact origin is uncertain and probably dialectal or imitative rather than directly borrowed from a single source.

'bamboozle' appears in English around the 1700s with forms essentially the same as the modern verb; 'bamboozler' and later plural forms developed from the verb by regular noun formation.

Initially used to mean 'to perplex or bewilder' (early uses), the sense broadened and shifted to include 'to cheat or deceive' and this is the dominant modern meaning.