Etymology

fake

F4A1K5E1

Today it means: Not real; false, fraudulent. Full definition →

German Low German fegen ← Middle Low German vēgen ← Old Saxon fegōn
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fake · adjective, noun, verb1

  1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*fegōn“to clean up, polish”
  2. Old Saxon · derived fromfegōn
  3. Middle Low German · derived fromvēgen
  4. German Low German · derived fromfegen
  5. English todayfake

The origin is not known with certainty, although first attested in 1775 C.E. in British criminals' slang. It is probably from feak, feague (“to give a better appearance through artificial means, spruce up, embellish”), itself from German Low German fegen, from Middle Low German vēgen, from Old Saxon fegōn, from Proto-West Germanic *fegōn (“to clean up, polish”). Akin to Dutch veeg (“a swipe”), Dutch vegen (“to sweep, wipe”); German fegen (“to sweep, to polish”). Compare also Old English fācn (“deceit, fraud”). Perhaps related also to Old Norse fjúka (“to fade, vanquish, disappear”), Old Norse feikn (“strange, scary, unnatural”).

fake · noun, verb2

  1. Middle English · inherited fromfaken
  2. Middle English · inherited fromfaken
  3. English todayfake

Inherited from Middle English faken (“to coil a rope”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.