Phoney May Come From a Con Man's Fake Gold Ring
Phoney means fake. The most cited origin is a nineteenth-century swindle involving worthless brass rings.
Phoney, spelled *phony* in America, means fraudulent or fake. The usual explanation traces it to *fawney*, an Irish word for a finger ring, and the *fawney rig* — a confidence trick in which a swindler pretended to find a worthless brass ring and sold it as gold. The connection is plausible but not proven.
- Fake. *A phoney accent.*
- A fraud. *He is a complete phoney.*
- Phony — the American spelling. *A phony story.*
- Phoney war — the quiet opening of the Second World War. *The phoney war.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | phoney | A phoney claim. |
| American | phony | A phony ID. |
| Noun | phoney | An obvious phoney. |
| Related | fawney | Irish *fáinne*, a ring. |
| Related | fake | A clumsy fake. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The phoney war lasted until spring 1940.Months of little fighting.
- It sounds phoney to me.Not genuine.
- The word has nothing to do with telephones.Despite the spelling.
Words for the fake
- Phoney — fraudulent, from a possible confidence trick
- Bogus — American, of unknown origin
- Sham — possibly from a dialect form of shame
- Counterfeit — made in imitation, from French
- Spurious — of illegitimate origin, from Latin
Possibly from *fawney*, a ring, from Irish *fáinne*, through the *fawney rig* confidence trick. First recorded in American English around 1900.
Is it related to telephone?
No, despite the spelling. The PH is likely a respelling of an earlier form beginning with F.
What was the phoney war?
The period from September 1939 to spring 1940 when Britain and France were at war with Germany but almost no fighting occurred in the west.