Meanings
plural faineants · alternative fainéant
- An irresponsible or lazy person.
Synonyms: bum, couch potato, dawdler, deadbeat, dogfucker, do-naught, do-nothing, dosser
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn irresponsible or lazy person.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchfay neant
- Englishfaineant
From Old French fay neant, alteration of feignant (“idler”), present participle of feindre, modelled on fait (“does”) + neant (“nothing”).
More words from Old French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
faineant. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/faineant
“faineant.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/faineant. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “faineant,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/faineant.
Source: faineant on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.