'scapegoat' originates from Hebrew, specifically the word 'ʿăzāzēl,' where 'ʿēz' meant 'goat' and 'ʿāzāl' meant 'to go away.'

'ʿăzāzēl' transformed into the English word 'scapegoat' through the translation of the Bible, where it was used to describe a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it.

Initially, it meant 'a goat sent into the wilderness,' but over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'a person or group made to bear the blame for others.'