faker

English

Etymology

From fake ‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪkɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪkə(ɹ)

Noun

faker (plural fakers)

1. One who fakes something.
2. An impostor or impersonator.
   • 1917, Upton Sinclair, The Profits of Religion […] ‎^[1]:

     The ordinary Christian will read the claims of the New Thought fakers with contempt; but have I not shown the Catholic Church publishing long lists of money-miracles?

   • 2001 June 23, Sonic Team USA, Sonic Adventure 2, Sega, published 2001:

     Sonic: I found you, faker!

3. (military, by extension) A friendly unit (usually aircraft) that acts as a hostile unit in a military exercise.
   • 2011, APP-6C: NATO Joint Military Symbology, page 555:

     faker: A friendly track acting as a hostile for exercise purposes. (STANAG 1241)

4. (obsolete) A thief.
5. (obsolete) A peddler of petty things.
   • 1859, Snowden's Magistrates Assistant, page 497:

     He has been lagged for beaker hunting, was a mushroom faker [umbrella seller], has been on the steel for snamming a wedge sneezer; […]

6. A snake oil salesman; one who makes exaggerated claims about a product he sells.
   • 1906, Clifton Rodman Wooldridge, The Grafters of America: Who They are and how They Work, page 248:

     Yet the faker is not an unpopular visitor to the country fair. On the contrary, a country fair at which was not heard the stentorian shouts of the faker to "come on, boys; here's the chance to make your fortune," would be considered a dismal failure.

   • 1909 May, G. Frank Lydston, “Honor to Whom Honor is Due”, in The Medical Standard, volume 32, page 248:

     All the doctor has to do nowadays is to read the labels on the bottles and boxes of samples the faker brings him.

   • 1912 June, Locomotive Engineers Journal, volume 46, number 6, page 535:

     Business interests citizens against the food adulterator are severely hampered and injured and the "patent-medicine” faker.

Derived terms

• bit-faker
• flue-faker
• nature faker
• poodle-faker

 

Translations

one who fakes

• Bulgarian: симулант (bg) m (simulant)
• Latin: dissimulātor m
• Malayalam: കപടൻ (kapaṭaṉ)

See also

• fakir

Adjective

faker

1. comparative form of fake: more fake.
   • 2016, Laura Stampler, Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies, page 147:

     The name sounds faker than fake.

   • 2018, Jessica Brody, Better You Than Me, page 7:

     He returns my smile, although his is probably faker than mine.

   • 2022, Amanda Elliot, Sadie on a Plate, page 155:

     She's faker than the plastic food in the pictures on the McDonald's menu.

Anagrams

• Kafer, freak

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English fake (“to feign”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛ.ke/ ~ /fe.ke/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Verb

faker

1. (transitive, North America, colloquial) to fake; to feign (to pretend to do something)

Conjugation

Conjugation of faker (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	faker
	compound	avoir past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	fakant /fɛ.kɑ̃/ or /fe.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant past participle
past participle		faké /fɛ.ke/ or /fe.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	fake /fɛk/	fakes /fɛk/	fake /fɛk/	fakons /fɛ.kɔ̃/ or /fe.kɔ̃/	fakez /fɛ.ke/ or /fe.ke/	fakent /fɛk/
	imperfect	fakais /fɛ.kɛ/ or /fe.kɛ/	fakais /fɛ.kɛ/ or /fe.kɛ/	fakait /fɛ.kɛ/ or /fe.kɛ/	fakions /fɛ.kjɔ̃/ or /fe.kjɔ̃/	fakiez /fɛ.kje/ or /fe.kje/	fakaient /fɛ.kɛ/ or /fe.kɛ/
	past historic2	fakai /fɛ.ke/ or /fe.ke/	fakas /fɛ.ka/ or /fe.ka/	faka /fɛ.ka/ or /fe.ka/	fakâmes /fɛ.kam/ or /fe.kam/	fakâtes /fɛ.kat/ or /fe.kat/	fakèrent /fɛ.kɛʁ/ or /fe.kɛʁ/
	future	fakerai /fɛ.kʁe/ or /fe.kʁe/	fakeras /fɛ.kʁa/ or /fe.kʁa/	fakera /fɛ.kʁa/ or /fe.kʁa/	fakerons /fɛ.kʁɔ̃/ or /fe.kʁɔ̃/	fakerez /fɛ.kʁe/ or /fe.kʁe/	fakeront /fɛ.kʁɔ̃/ or /fe.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	fakerais /fɛ.kʁɛ/ or /fe.kʁɛ/	fakerais /fɛ.kʁɛ/ or /fe.kʁɛ/	fakerait /fɛ.kʁɛ/ or /fe.kʁɛ/	fakerions /fɛ.kə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /fe.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	fakeriez /fɛ.kə.ʁje/ or /fe.kə.ʁje/	fakeraient /fɛ.kʁɛ/ or /fe.kʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	fake /fɛk/	fakes /fɛk/	fake /fɛk/	fakions /fɛ.kjɔ̃/ or /fe.kjɔ̃/	fakiez /fɛ.kje/ or /fe.kje/	fakent /fɛk/
	imperfect2	fakasse /fɛ.kas/ or /fe.kas/	fakasses /fɛ.kas/ or /fe.kas/	fakât /fɛ.ka/ or /fe.ka/	fakassions /fɛ.ka.sjɔ̃/ or /fe.ka.sjɔ̃/	fakassiez /fɛ.ka.sje/ or /fe.ka.sje/	fakassent /fɛ.kas/ or /fe.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	fake /fɛk/	—	fakons /fɛ.kɔ̃/ or /fe.kɔ̃/	fakez /fɛ.ke/ or /fe.ke/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir past participle	simple imperative of avoir past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).