fake

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Not real; made to look genuine in order to deceive.

   The painting turned out to be a fake.

2. 2
   noun

   Something that is not genuine but is presented as if it were.

   I suspect this passport is a fake.

3. 3
   verb

   To pretend to have a feeling or condition that you do not have.

   He faked an illness to avoid going to school.

4. 4
   verb

   To make a copy of something in order to deceive people.

   The student faked his parent's signature on the report card.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Fake has an uncertain origin in underworld slang. Ben Fakers, referring to counterfeiters, and faker, meaning “maker,” are recorded once each in the late 17th century, but the terms then disappear from written evidence until 1810. Fake may instead have developed from the earlier verbs feak and feague, “to beat.”

The origin is not known with certainty, although first attested in 1775 C.E. in British criminals' slang. It is probably from feak, feague (“to give a better appearance through artificial means, spruce up, embellish”), itself from German Low German fegen, from Middle Low German vēgen, from Old Saxon fegōn, from Proto-West Germanic *fegōn (“to clean up, polish”). Akin to Dutch veeg (“a swipe”), Dutch vegen (“to sweep, wipe”); German fegen (“to sweep, to polish”). Compare also Old English fācn (“deceit, fraud”). Perhaps related also to Old Norse fjúka (“to fade, vanquish, disappear”), Old Norse…

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