Refers to a clever scheme or tactical maneuver, often with a connotation of cunning or deception. Relatively rare in modern everyday speech; more common in literary or historical contexts.
He deceived the enemy using a stratagem.
Machiavellian scheming; wiles and trickery; political cunning
Composed of 術 (technique, art) and 数 (number, calculation), suggesting a calculated or artful method. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the term has been used in classical Chinese and Japanese texts to refer to schemes or stratagems.