faker

From fake +‎ -er.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪkɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪkə(ɹ)

faker (plural fakers)

1. One who fakes something.
2. An impostor or impersonator.
   • 2001 June 23, Sonic Team USA, Sonic Adventure 2, Sega, published 2001:

     Sonic: I found you, faker!

3. (military, by extension) A friendly unit (usually aircraft) that acts as a hostile unit in a military exercise.
   • 2011, APP-6C: NATO Joint Military Symbology, page 555:

     faker: A friendly track acting as a hostile for exercise purposes. (STANAG 1241)

4. (obsolete) A thief.
5. (obsolete) A peddler of petty things.
   • 1859, Snowden's Magistrates Assistant, page 497:

     He has been lagged for beaker hunting, was a mushroom faker [umbrella seller], has been on the steel for snamming a wedge sneezer; […]

6. A snake oil salesman; one who makes exaggerated claims about a product he sells.
   • 1906, Clifton Rodman Wooldridge, The Grafters of America: Who They are and how They Work, page 248:

     Yet the faker is not an unpopular visitor to the country fair. On the contrary, a country fair at which was not heard the stentorian shouts of the faker to "come on, boys; here's the chance to make your fortune," would be considered a dismal failure.

   • 1909 May, G. Frank Lydston, “Honor to Whom Honor is Due”, in The Medical Standard, volume 32, page 248:

     All the doctor has to do nowadays is to read the labels on the bottles and boxes of samples the faker brings him.

   • 1912 June, Locomotive Engineers Journal, volume 46, number 6, page 535:

     Business interests citizens against the food adulterator are severely hampered and injured and the "patent-medicine” faker.

• fakir

faker

1. comparative form of fake: more fake.
   • 2016, Laura Stampler, Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies, page 147:

     The name sounds faker than fake.

   • 2018, Jessica Brody, Better You Than Me, page 7:

     He returns my smile, although his is probably faker than mine.

   • 2022, Amanda Elliot, Sadie on a Plate, page 155:

     She's faker than the plastic food in the pictures on the McDonald's menu.

• Kafer, freak