Cafard
/kæˈfɑːrd/noun
A hypocritical or sanctimonious person; in French, also a cockroach.
Did you know?French cafard became a slang word for a hypocrite or informer, and its history is tangled with the old image of the cockroach as a dirty, furtive creature.
Etymological Timeline
16th Century
French
cafard
“A cockroach; later also a hypocrite, informer, or sanctimonious person”
Middle French
French
cafard
“An insect or, in slang, a sly or hypocritical person”
Possibly Medieval Arabic
Arabic
kāfir
“An unbeliever; a nonbeliever”
Modern French
French
cafard
“Cockroach; hypocrite; gloom or the blues”
Modern English
English
cafard
“Borrowed chiefly as a literary or historical term for a hypocrite or informer”