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)

1. (informal) Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.

   A good jeweler should be able to tell a real stone from a phony one.

   • 1970, Imre Lakatos, “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes”, in Imre Lakatos, Alan Musgrave, editors, Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science; 4), Cambridge: [Cambridge] University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 176:

     […] one wonders whether the function of statistical techniques in the social sciences is not primarily to provide a machinery for producing phoney corroborations and thereby a semblance of ‘scientific progress’ where, in fact, there is nothing but an increase in pseudo-intellectual garbage.

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

• authentic
• genuine

Derived terms

• peach phony disease
• phonily
• phoniness
• phony as a three-dollar bill
• phony-baloney
• phony disease
• phonyness
• phony peach disease
• Phony Stark
• phonytail
• Phony War

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)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: یالان (yalan), یالانجی (yalancı), ساخته (sahte)

Noun

phony (plural phonies)

1. (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 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] 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.

2. (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.

3. (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

• phony up, phoney up
• Phony War, Phoney War

Translations

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

• Arabic: مُتَصَنِّع m (mutaṣanniʕ)
• 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

• Arabic: مُتَصَنِّع m (mutaṣanniʕ), مُنَافِق m (munāfiq)
• Bulgarian: лицемер (bg) m (licemer)
• 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 (es)

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 (es)

Verb

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

1. (informal) To fake.

Anagrams

• hypno-