phony

See also: -phony

English

Alternative forms

phoney (British)

Etymology

Of unknown origin. Perhaps an alteration of fawny (“gilt brass ring used by swindlers”) (1781), from Irish fáinne (“ring”).

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfoʊni/
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -əʊni

Adjective

phony (comparative phonier, superlative phoniest)

(informal) Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.
A good jeweler should be able to tell a real stone from a phony one.

Synonyms

(fraudulent): bogus, counterfeit, fake
See also Thesaurus:fake

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

fraudulent; fake

Arabic: بَهْرَج m (bahraj), خَرَّاص m (ḵarrāṣ)
Bulgarian: измамен (bg) (izmamen), мошенически (bg) (mošeničeski)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 假 (zh) (jiǎ)
Czech: falešný (cs) m
Dutch: onecht (nl), nagemaakt (nl)
Esperanto: falsa
Finnish: väärä (fi), väärennetty (fi), epäaito (fi), vale-
French: frauduleux (fr) m, contrefait (fr) m, falsifié (fr) m, faux (fr) m, à la noix (fr), à la gomme (fr)
Georgian: ცრუ (cru), ყალბი (q̇albi)
German: falsch (de), unecht (de), gefälscht (de), , verlogen (de)
Hebrew: מזויף
Hungarian: hamis (hu)
Italian: falso (it), fasullo (it)
Japanese: 偽 (ja) (にせ, nise), 贋 (ja) (にせ, nise), 偽物の (ja) (にせものの, nisemono no)
Portuguese: falso (pt), de araque (pt)
Russian: фальши́вый (ru) m (falʹšívyj), подде́льный (ru) m (poddélʹnyj), ненастоя́щий (ru) m (nenastojáščij)
Spanish: falso (es), falaz (es), fraudulento (es), mendaz (es)
Swedish: falsk (sv), oäkta (sv), förljugen (sv), lögnaktig (sv)

Noun

phony (plural phonies)

(informal) A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own.
He claims to be a doctor, but he's nothing but a fast-talking phony.
- 1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 164:
  What a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were.
(informal) A person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold.
Synonyms: faker, dissembler, pretender, fake; see also Thesaurus:deceiver

He's such a phony, he doesn't believe half of what he says.
(informal) Anything fraudulent or fake.
- 2013, John E. Douglas, Ann W. Burgess, Allen G. Burgess, Crime Classification Manual, page 131:
  One name was a phony, but the other was the true name. The clerk remembered the man who had filed the tags since he acquired two sets of plates with different names.

Derived terms

Translations

a person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own

Bulgarian: измамник (bg) m (izmamnik), мошеник (bg) m (mošenik)
Finnish: huijari (fi), teeskentelijä (fi)
French: usurpateur (fr) m, usurpatrice (fr) f, faux-nez (fr) m or f, faussaire (fr) m or f
German: Hochstapler (de) m, Blender (de) m, Scharlatan (de) m
Italian: impostore (it) m
Japanese: 詐欺師 (ja) (さぎし, sagishi)
Latin: simulātor m
Portuguese: impostor (pt)
Russian: прики́дчик m (prikídčik), прики́дчица f (prikídčica)
Spanish: fingidor (es) m
Swedish: bluff (sv) c, bedragare (sv) c

a person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold

Chinese:
Mandarin: 说慌话的人
Czech: pokrytec (cs) m
Finnish: teeskentelijä (fi)
French: mystificateur (fr) m, guignol (fr) m, faux (fr) prophète (fr) m
German: Heuchler (de) m, Lügner (de) m
Portuguese: falso (pt)
Spanish: falso (es) m, farsante

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "faker (to be sorted)"

Chinese:
Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 騙子 / 骗子 (zh) (piànzi)
German: ^{(please verify)} Quacksalber (de) m, ^{(please verify)} Schwindler (de) m, ^{(please verify)} Schwindlerin (de) f
Italian: ^{(please verify)} ciarlatano (it)
Spanish: ^{(please verify)} farsante

Verb

phony (third-person singular simple present phonies, present participle phonying, simple past and past participle phonied)

(informal) To fake.

Anagrams

hypno-