Faux

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /fəʊ/

Definitions

1. Made to look like something else, often as a deliberate imitation ; lacking authenticity or true value
2. Serving as a substitute or replica instead of the original ; pretending to be real but actually false
3. Constructed to resemble genuine materials or appearances ; characterized by insincerity or counterfeit nature

Etymology: "Faux" is the French word for "false," and English took it over unchanged, which is why it still looks foreign on the page. It is a doublet of "false": the two words descend from the same Latin ancestor, "falsus," but reached English by different routes. "False" came through Old French "fals" and was absorbed into English long ago, while "faux" came later through Middle French "faux," so the two sit side by side as one word split into two. The Latin verb "fallere," meaning "to deceive" or "to trip up," underlies the whole family, so the notion of something that misleads is built into both forms. English speakers adopted "faux" as an adjective to describe imitations, such as faux fur or faux leather, that are made to pass for the real thing. Its unadapted spelling and pronunciation mark it as a borrowing that English has kept in its original French shape.

Synonyms: fake, imitation, artificial, false, pretend

Antonyms: genuine, real, authentic