Charade comes from French, from modern Provençal charrado ‘conversation’, from charra ‘chatter’, perhaps of imitative origin. 

The first documented use of the word "charade" in English dates back to 1776. It's a borrowing from French, referring to a kind of riddle or game where a word is guessed based on described syllables or dramatic representations. 

The word "charade" can refer to either a deceptive act or pretense, or it can be a single round of the guessing game "Charades".  "Charades" (with an "s") refers to the game itself, a parlor game where players act out words or phrases for their teammates to guess.  

The game of charades originated in France in the 18th century and evolved from a riddle-based game where participants described the individual syllables of a word along with a definition for others to solve. It was later adapted into the game we know today where titles and phrases are acted out without words. 

Example of charade used in a sentence: 
"The female spy could no longer keep up the charade of being a simple domestic."
"Or would he have continued this charade and pretended he was going to medical school?"
"The marriage between two actors quickly turned into a charade"
"This charade of an interview was nothing more than a commercial for appeasement."
"The voters have now broken the charade of unanimity."
"However, the whole exercise was a charade."
"Now we find that the whole time-consuming process was a meaningless charade." 

Just the facts:

CHARADE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster