A person who pretends to be something they are not or pretends to have abilities or qualities they don't actually possess.
From the verb 'fake,' which came into English in the 1700s from slang origins (possibly from German 'fegen' meaning 'to sweep' or 'to do'). The suffix '-er' was added to mean 'one who fakes' in the 1800s.
The word 'fake' has been slang for pretending or cheating for so long that we now have 'faker' (the person), 'faking' (the action), and even 'deepfakes' (AI-created fakes)—showing how the concept keeps evolving with technology.
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