faker

Etymology

It is probably formed from English fake + -er.^[2][3][4][5] The OED notes that its first record, in 1688, is much earlier than any evidence for the verb fake, but takes the two as one word because the variant ben-feaker appears at the same date;^[2] the Shorter Oxford likewise links it to fakement.^[6] The verb is of uncertain origin: the OED takes it as probably a variant of feak or feague, and so ultimately a borrowing from German, Low German or Dutch,^[2] Etymonline names German fegen (“to polish, sweep”) as a likely source of feague,^[4] and Dictionary.com compares Dutch veeg (“a slap”) and vegen (“to sweep, wipe”).^[5] Green's Dictionary of Slang instead compares French faire (“to make”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A maker, in a list of canting terms used by beggars and cheats: 1688, in R. Holme's Academy of Armory.^[2][7] Etymonline dates the word only from 1846,^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1840–50.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In thieves' slang the word was used mostly after another noun, for a person who makes or works on something:^[2] in 1891 a Yorkshire newspaper listed among the trades of tramps mushfakers, chaneyfakers (menders of china) and cadeyfakers (hatters).^[7] From 1819, in J. H. Vaux's vocabulary of flash language, it meant both a thief, a sense that died out by 1851, and a person who counterfeits or forges something, a swindler.^[2] In the United States it was used from the late 19th century for a street or fair vendor who passes off cheap goods as valuable,^[3][8] sometimes spelled fakir by confusion with the word for a Muslim ascetic;^[6][8] the Dictionary of American Regional English calls this use somewhat old-fashioned.^[8] The general sense of an insincere or pretentious person, a phoney, is recorded from 1910.^[2] Specialised uses followed in jazz, for a musician who improvises (1903), and in sport, for a player who feints (1938).^[2]

Timeline

• 1688 – a maker, in thieves' cant.^[2][7]
• 1819 – a thief (obsolete by 1851); a counterfeiter, forger or swindler.^[2]
• 1882 – in the American West, spelled fakir, a swindler or seller of worthless goods.^[8]
• 1891 – in compounds naming the trades of tramps, such as chaneyfaker, a mender of china.^[7]
• 1903 – in jazz, a musician who improvises.^[2]
• 1910 – an insincere or pretentious person, a phoney.^[2]
• 1938 – in sport, a player who deceives an opponent with a feint.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who fakes something; a fraud, impostor or swindler: The art dealer turned out to be a skilled faker of old masters.^[9][3][2][6]
2. A person who pretends to be something they are not, or to have feelings or qualities they lack; a phoney.^[3][2]
3. (somewhat old-fashioned, US) A street or fair vendor who sells cheap or worthless goods as valuable.^[3][8]
4. After another noun, a person who makes or works on the thing named.^[2][7]
5. (chiefly jazz) A musician who improvises.^[2]
6. (sports) A player who deceives an opponent by feinting.^[2]

Word family

• fakery

Related words

• fake
• fakir
• feague

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b c d e Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin