fake English · revision 4164

+ English has two words spelled ''fake'': the slang word for “counterfeit”, of unknown origin, and the nautical “coil of rope”, also of unknown origin and probably unrelated.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /feɪk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|counterfeit}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=1775}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is unknown.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) A likely source, in Etymonline's and Hoad's view, is the earlier slang feague, feak “to beat”, also “to spruce up by artificial means”,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021) from [[de|fegen|t=to polish, sweep]], colloquially also “to clear out, plunder, thrash”.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Weekley noted that much early thieves' slang is German or Dutch and dates from the Thirty Years' War.^(Etymonline) Others have suggested Latin facere “to do”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As an adjective, “counterfeit, spurious”: 1775,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MW Collegiate) in a letter of Sir William Howe.^(Barnhart 1988) Word Origins notes ''Ben Fakers'', counterfeiters, once in a late 17th-century slang list.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The verb is London criminal slang, attested from 1812 in the sense “to do something to a person or thing”, especially to rob or kill,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002) and the noun from 1827 in the OED,^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) 1851 in Etymonline and Barnhart, a swindle or dodge,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) in Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor.^(Barnhart 1988) Barnhart finds it odd that the noun and verb should first appear in lower-class slang 75 years after the adjective appeared in standard English.^(Barnhart 1988) A faker, a swindler, is from 1888.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) “To feign, simulate” is from 1941,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''to fake it'' from 1915, as jazz slang,^(Etymonline) and of jazz musicians “to improvise” from 1926.^(OED 1989) In sport a fake, a feint, is from 1941, chiefly North American,^(OED 1989) and ''to fake out'' is from the 1940s.^(Etymonline) ''Fake news'', deliberately misleading journalism, is attested from 1894 and became popular in the 2016 United States presidential campaign.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) The word was more used in America and became mainstream British English only in the mid-20th century.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1775 – adjective, counterfeit.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1812 – verb, to rob.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1827 – noun, a dodge.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1888 – a swindler.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1894 – ''fake news''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1915 – ''fake it''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1941 – to feign; a feint in sport.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Having a false or misleading appearance; [[fraudulent]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Something that is not genuine; a [[sham]] or [[forgery]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A person who pretends to be what he or she is not; an [[impostor]].^(MW Collegiate)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A feint meant to mislead an opponent in sport.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make something false and present it as genuine; to [[counterfeit]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To [[feign]] or simulate: ''faked an injury''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To improvise a passage of music.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To deceive an opponent with a feint.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[faker]]

+ * [[fakery]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|coil of rope}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=c. 1400}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is [[inh|enm|faken|t=to coil a rope]],^(AHD 2000)^(MWU 2024) of unknown origin;^(SOED 2002)^(COED 2004) Etymonline thinks it probably unrelated to the other fake and perhaps from [[sv|veck|t=a fold]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To lay a rope in coils: perhaps before 1400 in the OED,^(OED 1989) the 15th century in Merriam-Webster.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The noun, one turn of a coiled rope or hawser, is from 1627.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) Phillips's dictionary of 1706 defined a fake as one circle or roll of a coiled cable.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1400 – verb, to coil a rope.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1627 – noun, a turn of rope.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # One loop or turn of a coiled rope or [[cable]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To coil a rope or cable.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[feague]]

+ * [[faux]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}