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fob

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Etymology and origin of the English word fob

Pronunciation

fob1 to cheat, fob off

Confidence
Unknown
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1375
From
Middle English fobben

Etymology

The verb meaning to cheat is inherited from Middle English fobben,[2][3][4] which the Middle English Dictionary and Barnhart derive from the noun fob (“a cheat, trickster”),[2][4][5] recorded once, in “Piers Plowman”.[6][7] The noun's own origin is unknown.[6][8] Many dictionaries compare German foppen (“to jeer at, make a fool of, deceive”) and the English fop,[6][7][9][8][2][5] and Dictionary.com takes the German verb as a cognate.[10] The OED and Weekley mention Old French forbe (“rogue”), now fourbe, with the loss of the -r-, but the OED objects that this does not explain the link with fop and foppen;[6][11] Etymonline cites forbeter (“to deceive, trick”).[5] The Middle English Dictionary also derives the noun from a homonymous Middle English noun meaning froth or foam, a word that survives in southern English dialect.[2][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cheat or trick, to deceive: about 1375, in a Northern Homily legend, where people in Persia “fobbed fele folk”, deceived many.[2][4] The OED, whose verb entry is not fully revised, dates the verb only from 1583, in Robert Greene.[6]

Semantic evolution

The noun shifted from "a cheat" (1393) to "a trick, an artifice" (1622), a sense Green's Dictionary of Slang treats as standard at first and slang by the late 17th century.[6][13] The verb gave the phrase fob off, to put someone off with an excuse or pretence, first in Shakespeare's 2 Henry IV (1600, or 1597 in Barnhart's dating),[6][4] and since 1652 the sense to pass something off on someone by trickery.[6] In Coriolanus Shakespeare also used fob off for getting rid of a thing by a trick, a sense now obsolete.[6] In northern and western dialects the verb still meant to cheat or put off with a pretence in the 19th century.[12] The simple verb is now archaic, and fob off is the usual form.[3][14]

Timeline

  • c. 1375 – verb, to cheat, trick.[2][4]
  • 1393 – noun, a cheat, an impostor (obsolete).[6][2]
  • 1600 – fob off, to put off with an excuse or pretence.[6]
  • 1622 – noun, a trick, an artifice.[6][13]
  • 1652 – to pass or palm off by trickery.[6]
  • 1894 – fob off, to palm off on someone.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. fob off: to put someone off with an excuse, a lie or something inferior: The landlord fobbed us off with promises.[14][6][3]
  2. fob off: to get rid of something by deceit; to palm off goods on someone.[14][3][6]
  3. (archaic) To cheat or deceive.[3][14]

Noun

  1. (archaic) A trick or sham.[3][6][15]

Word family

  • fob off

fob2 watch pocket, ornament

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1630
Ultimate origin
German Fuppe

Etymology

The small pocket is of uncertain origin.[4][6][10][8] Most dictionaries compare German Fuppe (“pocket”), a dialect word of East Prussia and Livonia,[6][3][9][11][16] with the related verbs fuppen and einfuppen (“to pocket stealthily”),[6][3] and the American Heritage Dictionary and Barnhart also compare Low German Fobke (“little pocket”).[17][4] The Shorter Oxford and Hoad take it as probably of German origin and originally a cant term,[15][7] and Weekley as an early German loan of the time of the Thirty Years' War.[11] The OED adds that, if the word first meant a secret pocket, it may be connected with the verb fob, to cheat.[6][4] Johnson had already derived it from German.[18]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small pocket in the waistband of breeches, for a watch, money or other valuables: Merriam-Webster dates it to 1630,[3] the OED to before 1652, in Richard Brome's The Court Beggar,[6] and Barnhart and Etymonline to 1653 and the 1650s.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

By about 1680 fob could also mean the money kept in the pocket.[6][15] In the late 19th century it passed to what hung from the pocket: in American use the fob chain attaching a watch (1886), and then the ornament or seal on such a chain (1888), Etymonline taking the latter as short for fob chain.[6][5] From that came the modern key fob, a tag or small device on a key ring.[6][14] A verb fob, to put into one's fob, to pocket, is recorded from 1818,[6][15] and Irish and Lancashire dialect used it also for tipping or paying out money.[12]

Timeline

  • 1630 – a small pocket in the waistband of breeches.[3] The OED's first quotation is from before 1652.[6]
  • c. 1680 – the contents of the fob, cash.[6]
  • 1818 – verb, to put into one's fob, to pocket.[6]
  • 1886 – in American use, a fob chain.[6]
  • 1888 – an ornament on a chain or strap hanging from a pocket; later a key fob.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A short chain or ribbon attaching a pocket watch to a waistcoat or trousers.[14][3]
  2. An ornament hung on such a chain, such as a seal.[14][3]
  3. A small pocket in a waistcoat or just below the waistband of trousers, for a watch.[14][3][6]
  4. A metal, plastic or leather tag on a key ring; a key fob.[14][6]

Verb

  1. To put into one's fob; to pocket.[3][6]

Word family

  • key fob
  • fob watch

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  17. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
Cite this entry

“Fob.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/fob. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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