fiction

English

Etymology

From Middle English ficcioun, from Old French ficcion (“dissimulation, ruse, invention”), from Latin fictiō (“a making, fashioning, a feigning, a rhetorical or legal fiction”), from fingō (“to form, mold, shape, devise, feign”). Displaced native Old English lēasspell (literally “false story”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: fĭk′-shən, IPA^(key): /ˈfɪk.ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fic‧tion

• Rhymes: -ɪkʃən

Noun

fiction (countable and uncountable, plural fictions)

1. (literature) Literary type using invented or imaginative writing, instead of real facts, usually written as prose.

   I am a great reader of fiction.

   the fiction section of the library

2. A verbal or written account that is not based on actual events (often intended to mislead).

   The company’s accounts contained a number of blatant fictions.

   The butler’s account of the crime was pure fiction.

   separate the fact from the fiction

   • 1963 June, G. Freeman Allen, “The success of diesel-hydraulics on the German Federal Railway”, in Modern Railways, page 390:

     […] in view of the facts—and some fictions—recently circulated in this country about the general performance of high-powered diesel-hydraulics of B.R., […] .

3. (law) A legal fiction.

Synonyms

• fabrication
• figment

Antonyms

• documentary
• fact
• non-fiction
• truth

Hyponyms

• science fiction
• speculative fiction

Derived terms

• airport fiction
• eco-fiction
• encyclopedic fiction
• explanatory fiction
• faan fiction
• faction
• fact is stranger than fiction
• fan-fiction
• fan fiction
• fictional
• fictitious
• flash fiction
• genre fiction
• hard science fiction
• historical fiction
• imaginative fiction
• interactive fiction
• literary fiction
• macro-fiction
• message fiction
• micro-fiction
• non-fiction
• non-mimetic fiction
• paradox of fiction
• pious fiction
• polite fiction
• proto-science fiction
• pulp fiction
• real person fiction
• slash fiction
• soft science fiction
• sudden fiction
• truth is stranger than fiction
• weird fiction
• work of fiction

 

Descendants

• → Irish: ficsean
• → Scottish Gaelic: ficsean

Translations

literary type

• Arabic: خَيَال‎ (ar) m (ḵayāl), رِوَايَة‎ (ar) f (riwāya)
• Belarusian: маста́цкая літарату́ра f (mastáckaja litaratúra), бэлетры́стыка f (beljetrýstyka), кра́снае пісьме́нства n (krásnaje pisʹmjénstva)
• Bulgarian: белетри́стика (bg) f (beletrístika), худо́жествена литерату́ра f (hudóžestvena literatúra)
• Catalan: ficció (ca) f
• Cebuano: handurawat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 虛構文學／虚构文学 (xūgòu wénxué), (literally, "novels") 小說／小说 (zh) (xiǎoshuō)

• Czech: beletrie (cs) f
• Danish: fiktion c, skønlitteratur c
• Dutch: fictie (nl) f
• Esperanto: fikcio (eo)
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: skaldskapur
• Finnish: fiktio (fi), kaunokirjallisuus (fi)
• French: fiction (fr) f, belles-lettres (fr) f pl
• Galician: ficción (gl) f
• German: Fiktion (de) f, Belletristik (de) f
• Greek: μυθιστόρημα (el) m (mythistórima)

  Ancient: μυθολογία f (muthología)

• Hungarian: szépirodalom (hu)
• Icelandic: skáldskapur m
• Indonesian: fiksi (id)
• Irish: ficsean m (uncountable), finscéal m (countable)
• Italian: finzione (it) f
• Japanese: フィクション (ja) (fikushon), 小説 (ja) (しょうせつ, shōsetsu)
• Javanese: dedongèngan
• Kalmyk: урн зокъял (urn zokʺyal)
• Korean: 소설(小說) (ko) (soseol), 픽션 (piksyeon)
• Latin: res ficta, fabula (la) f, commentum n
• Latvian: daiļliteratūra f, beletristika (lv) f
• Macedonian: белетристика f (beletristika)
• Malay: cereka (ms), cerita rekaan, fiksyen (ms), fiksi
• Maori: pakiwaitara, pakimaero
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fiksjon m, skjønnlitteratur (no) m

  Nynorsk: fiksjon m, skjønnlitteratur m

• Occitan: ficcion (oc) f
• Old English: lēasspell n
• Persian: داستانی‎ (fa) (dâstâni)
• Plautdietsch: Romaunschreft f
• Polish: beletrystyka (pl) f
• Portuguese: literatura de ficção f, ficção (pt) f, ficcionismo m
• Romanian: literatură artistică f
• Russian: худо́жественная литерату́ра (ru) f (xudóžestvennaja literatúra), беллетри́стика (ru) f (belletrístika), фи́кшен (ru) m (fíkšen), фикшн (ru) m (fikšn)
• Scottish Gaelic: uirsgeul m, ficsean m
• Slovak: beletria f
• Spanish: ficción (es) f
• Swahili: bunilizi
• Swedish: fiktion (sv) c, skönlitteratur (sv) c
• Tagalog: kathang-isip, bungang-isip
• Turkish: kurgu (tr)
• Ukrainian: худо́жня літерату́ра f (xudóžnja literatúra), белетри́стика (uk) f (beletrýstyka)
• Welsh: ffuglen (cy) f

invention

• Azerbaijani: uydurma (az), qondarma (az)
• Belarusian: вы́мысел m (výmysjel), вы́думка f (výdumka), фі́кцыя f (fíkcyja)
• Bulgarian: изми́слица (bg) f (izmíslica)
• Catalan: ficció (ca) f
• Czech: fikce (cs) f, výmysl m
• Danish: fantasi c, opspind
• Dutch: fictie (nl) f
• Finnish: sepite (fi), fiktio (fi), taru (fi)
• French: fiction (fr) f
• German: Erfindung (de) f
• Icelandic: uppspuni m, skáldskapur m
• Macedonian: измислица f (izmislica)
• Maori: kōrero takuahi
• Middle English: ficcioun
• Occitan: ficcion (oc) f
• Polish: fikcja (pl) f
• Portuguese: ficção (pt) f, invenção (pt) f, fingimento (pt) m, (colloquial) invencionice f
• Russian: вы́мысел (ru) m (výmysel), вы́думка (ru) f (výdumka), фи́кция (ru) f (fíkcija)
• Slovak: výmysel m
• Spanish: ficción (es) f
• Tagalog: gawa-gawa
• Turkish: kurgu (tr)
• Ukrainian: ви́гадка f (výhadka), фі́кція f (fíkcija), ви́мисел m (výmysel), ви́гад m (výhad)

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

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} fikcio (eo)
• French: ^{(please verify)} fiction (fr) f

Further reading

• “fiction”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “fiction”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• fiction at OneLook Dictionary Search
• "fiction" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 134.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Latin fictionem (nominative of fictio).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fik.sjɔ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

fiction f (plural fictions)

1. fiction

Related terms

• fictif
• science-fiction

Further reading

• “fiction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.