feint

Pronunciation

• IPA: /feɪnt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French feinte (“a feint, sham, pretence”),^[2][3][4][5] from Old French feint, the past participle of feindre “to feign”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin fingo (“to touch, shape, devise”).^[4] It is a doublet of faint, with which it was partly confused in spelling in Middle English.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An adjective feint “deceitful, hypocritical” was borrowed about 1290,^[3] and the verb feinten “to deceive” about 1300.^[3][4][7] The modern noun, a false show or pretence, is recorded from 1679 (1644 in Merriam-Webster).^[3][4][5][7]

Semantic evolution

In fencing and boxing a feint is a blow aimed at one part to distract from the real target, a sense the OED records from 1600;^[7] in military use it is a movement meant to mislead an enemy (1683).^[7][4] The verb, to make a sham attack, was formed from the noun and is recorded from 1833, though Merriam-Webster dates it to 1741.^[3][4][7][5] The old adjective survives as a trade spelling of faint for paper ruled with light lines.^[4][7][1]

Timeline

• about 1290 – adjective, deceitful.^[3]
• about 1300 – verb, to deceive.^[3][4][7]
• 1600 – noun, a feigned blow in fencing.^[7]
• 1679 – noun, a pretence or stratagem.^[3][7]
• 1683 – noun, a deceptive military movement.^[7]
• 1833 – verb, to make a sham attack.^[3][4][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A pretended attack meant to draw the defence away from the real target, as in fencing, boxing or war.
2. A deceptive action meant to hide one's real purpose; a pretence.

Verb

1. To make a feint.
2. To deceive or lure with a feint.
3. To make a false show of; to simulate.

Related words

• feign
• faint
• fiction
• figment

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press