forgery

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1574; from the verb to forge, from Middle English forgen, via Anglo-Norman forger, from Old French forgier, from Latin fabricari (“to frame, construct, fabricate”), itself from fabrica (“workshop; construction”), from faber (“workman, smith”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː.dʒəɹ.ɪ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːɹ.d͡ʒəɹ.ɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

forgery (countable and uncountable, plural forgeries)

1. The act of forging metal into shape.

   the forgery of horseshoes

2. The act of forging, fabricating, or producing falsely; especially the crime of fraudulently making or altering a writing or signature purporting to be made by another, the false making or material alteration of or addition to a written instrument for the purpose of deceit and fraud.

   the forgery of a bond

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.

3. That which is forged, fabricated, falsely devised or counterfeited.
4. (archaic) An invention, creation.

Synonyms

• counterfeit
• fake

Derived terms

• forger

Translations

the act of forging metal into shape

• Bulgarian: коване (bg) n (kovane)
• Dutch: smederij (nl), smeden (nl) n
• Finnish: taonta (fi)
• German: Schmieden (de) n
• Polish: kucie (pl) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: forjamento m, forjadura f
• Russian: ко́вка (ru) f (kóvka)
• Serbo-Croatian: skovati (sh)
• Spanish: forjadura f

the act of forging, fabricating or producing falsely

• Bulgarian: фалшификация (bg) f (falšifikacija)
• Catalan: falsificació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偽造／伪造 (zh) (wěizào), 伪造 (zh) (wěizhào)

• Czech: padělání n
• Danish: falskneri n, forfalskning c
• Dutch: bedrog (nl) n, namaak (nl), vervalsing (nl)
• Finnish: väärentäminen (fi)
• German: Fälschen n, Fälschung (de) f
• Greek: πλαστογραφία (el) f (plastografía)
• Hungarian: hamisítás (hu)
• Indonesian: pemalsuan (id)
• Italian: falsificazione (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 위조 (ko) (wijo)
• Latin: falsificatio f
• Malay: pemalsuan
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: falskneri n, forfalskning m or f, forfalsking m or f

  Nynorsk: falskneri n, forfalsking f

• Polish: fałszowanie (pl) n, podrabianie (pl) n
• Portuguese: forjamento m, forjadura f
• Russian: подло́г (ru) m (podlóg), подде́лка (ru) f (poddélka), фальсифика́ция (ru) f (falʹsifikácija)
• Serbo-Croatian: krivotvoriti (sh)
• Spanish: falsificación (es) f

that which is forged or counterfeited

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: фалшификат (bg) m (falšifikat)
• Catalan: falsificació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 贗品／赝品 (zh) (yànpǐn), 赝品 (zh) (yànpǐn)

• Czech: padělek (cs) m, podvrh m
• Danish: falskneri n, forfalskning c
• Dutch: namaak (nl), vervalsing (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: väärennös (fi)
• German: Fälschung (de) f, Falsifikat (de) n
• Greek: πλαστογράφηση (el) f (plastográfisi)
• Hungarian: hamisítvány (hu)
• Japanese: 偽物 (ja) (にせもの, nisemono)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: falskneri n, forfalskning m or f, forfalsking m or f

  Nynorsk: falskneri n, forfalsking f

• Polish: falsyfikat (pl) m, podróbka (pl) f (colloquial)
• Portuguese: falsificação (pt) f
• Russian: подде́лка (ru) f (poddélka), фальши́вка (ru) f (falʹšívka), ли́па (ru) f (lípa)
• Serbo-Croatian: krivotvorina (sh)
• Spanish: falsificación (es) f
• Swedish: förfalskning (sv) c, falsifikat (sv) n
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can

invention — see invention

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} contrefaçon (fr), ^{(please verify)} falsification (fr), ^{(please verify)} faux (fr), ^{(please verify)} invention (fr)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} falso (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 偽作 (gisaku)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: (Modern Latin) ^{(please verify)} contrafactio, ^{(please verify)} falsificatio, (Classical Latin) ^{(please verify)} falsum
• Norman: ^{(please verify)} forgéthie f (Jersey)