Liar

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈlaɪ.ə/

Definitions

1. A person who intentionally tells falsehoods or makes false statements with the intent to deceive
2. An individual who habitually misrepresents the truth or fabricates information for personal gain or to manipulate others
3. Someone who engages in deception by presenting falsehoods or lies with the aim of misleading people

Etymology: Old English speakers had a word for a liar that was built from the verb itself. "Lēogere" (also spelled "lēgere") meant "liar, false witness, hypocrite," and it was formed by adding the suffix "-ere," an agent ending that marks a person who performs an action, to the verb "lēogan," meaning "to lie." The same pattern produced other English nouns such as "baker" and "singer," so the word is essentially "one who lies" in its most transparent form. The earlier forms show the word changing shape over the Middle English period. Spellings such as "lier," "liere," and "legher" appear in the records, with the "gh" in "legher" preserving a sound that had once been pronounced in the older verb. Modern English then dropped that sound, and the spelling settled into the form we use today. The word's ancestors reach back into Proto-Germanic, where "leugārijaz" meant "liar" and was built from "leuganą," "to lie." English inherited this line directly rather than borrowing it, so the word has been part of the language continuously since Old English.

Synonyms: deceiver, fabricator, falsifier, prevaricator, dishonest person

Antonyms: truth-teller, honest person, sincere person, veracious person, upright person