feignant

Feignant is a French adjective and present participle derived from the verb feindre, meaning to feign or pretend. In modern French, feignant expresses a sense of insincerity or artificiality, describing actions, expressions, or attitudes that are not genuine. The form is typically used in literary or formal style rather than in everyday conversation.

Etymology and meaning

Feindre comes from Old French and ultimately from Latin fingere, meaning to shape, contrive, or pretend. The present participle ending -ant yields feignant, which in compound use can denote something performed in a feigned or contrived manner. The core sense is similar to the English feigned or pretended.

Usage

As an adjective, feignant can modify a noun: a feignant sourire (a feigned smile), a feignant air (a pretended or artificial look). It can also appear in predicative constructions: “Il affiche une attitude feignante,” meaning an insincere or affected demeanor. The participial form is sometimes used to describe someone who is feigning something, as in phrases like “un homme feignant l’indifférence.” In contemporary speech, however, this sense is relatively formal or literary; more common terms for insincerity or laziness are fainéant or paresseux, depending on nuance.

Relation to other terms

The word fainéant (lazy) is the more common counterpart when referring to indolence, whereas feignant emphasizes pretense or artificiality. Feignant and feindre are connected in form and meaning, but feignent (or feindre) is the verb “to feign,” while feignant is the participle used adjectivally or to describe feigned behavior.

See also

feindre, fainéant, fainéance, paresseux. In English-language contexts, feignant translations typically align with feigned or pretended.