pretender

Etymology

It is an agent noun formed from English pretend + -er.^[2][3][4][5] The verb, recorded from 1395, is from Anglo-Norman and Middle French pretendre (“to claim, demand”) and Latin praetendō (“to hold out in front, put forward as a pretext”),^[2] formed from prae- (“before”) and tendō (“to stretch”),^[2][4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who makes a profession or assertion, especially a false one: the revised OED's first quotation is from A. Golding's 1583 translation of Calvin's sermons on Deuteronomy.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives 1583.^[8] Barnhart and Etymonline begin later, in 1591 or the 1590s, with the now dead sense "one who intends".^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The noun's use for a claimant to a throne rests on an older meaning of the verb: Etymonline ties the royal pretenders to pretend in the sense "to lay claim to", not "to feign".^[4] The OED has the claimant to a title or throne from 1593,^[2] while Etymonline finds the word specifically of a claimant to the English throne in the 1690s,^[4] and Barnhart's first example of a claimant to a throne or office is from Dryden in 1697.^[3] The word then became a title for the two Stuart claimants, James Stuart (1688–1766), son of James II, and Charles Stuart (1720–80), his son, who were called the Old Pretender and the Young Pretender and who asserted their right against the house of Hanover.^[5][4] From the early 18th century, Pretenderism meant adherence to their cause.^[5]

Johnson (1755) still defines a pretender neutrally, as one who lays claim to anything, and quotes Addison on "the several pretenders to the empire".^[9] Modern dictionaries add that the claim is usually held to have no just title,^[8][2] which brings the noun close to its other line of meaning, a person who feigns or claims a quality falsely.^[2][4] A third line, the suitor, reflects a use of the verb for courtship that Etymonline traces to French; it ended in the late 18th century.^[4][2][5]

Timeline

• 1583 – a person who makes a profession or assertion, especially falsely; someone claiming a quality or skill without grounds.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1630s.^[4]
• 1591 – a person who intends something (obsolete by 1598).^[2][3]
• 1593 – a person claiming a title or position, especially a throne.^[2] Barnhart's first example of a claimant to a throne or office is from 1697, in Dryden.^[3]
• 1598 – a person aspiring to an honour, office or victory; a candidate or contender.^[2] Barnhart dates the sense "one who puts forth a claim" to 1622.^[3]
• before 1625 – a suitor, in Shakespeare and Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen (obsolete by 1789).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who claims a throne or title, especially one held to have no just right to it: The exiled duke lived abroad for years as pretender to the crown.^[8][10][2]
2. the Old Pretender, the Young Pretender: the names given to James Stuart and his son Charles Stuart, who claimed the British throne.^[5][4]
3. A person who makes a false or hypocritical show of something; one who feigns: He soon proved a mere pretender to learning.^[8][10][2]
4. (rare) A person who aspires to an honour, inheritance or office; a candidate or contender.^[2]
5. (obsolete) A suitor or wooer.^[2][5]
6. (obsolete, 1591–1598) A person who intends something.^[2][5]

Related words

• pretend
• pretense
• pretension
• tend

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 f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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 e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins