factoid

English

Etymology

fact +‎ -oid; coined by Norman Mailer in Marilyn (1973): "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority".

Noun

factoid (plural factoids)

1. An inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition, especially if cited in the media.
2. An interesting item of trivia.