Feign
/feɪn/noun
To pretend or give a false appearance of something.
Did you know?Feign comes from Latin fingere, “to shape, mold, devise,” the same root behind words tied to crafting and invention, showing how “making” and “making-believe” were once dangerously close.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dheigh-
“to form, shape, mold”
Latin
Latin
fingere
“to shape, mold, fashion; to devise, invent”
Latin
Latin
fingnre / fictus
“shaped, made up, feigned”
Old French
Old French
feindre
“to pretend, disguise, feign”
Middle English
English
feinen
“to pretend, simulate”
Modern English
English
feign
“to pretend or give a false appearance of something”