## Etymology
From sycophant (from Latin sycophanta 'informer, slanderer', from Ancient Greek sykophantēs 'informer', literally 'one who shows the fig', from sykon 'fig' + phainein 'to show') plus -ic.

## AI Etymology
Sycophantic comes from sycophant (from Latin sycophanta 'informer, slanderer', from Ancient Greek sykophantēs 'informer', literally 'one who shows the fig', from sykon 'fig' + phainein 'to show') plus -ic. The historical chain includes Ancient Greek sykophantēs, Ancient Greek sŷkon, and Ancient Greek phaínein. The quoted older senses, "informer, slanderer", "informer", "one who shows the fig", "fig", and "to show", supply the semantic anchors for sycophantic. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word sycophantic carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "behaving obsequiously to gain advantage; fawning". English derivatives include sycophantically; related English forms include sycophant and sycophancy. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

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