hoax

English

Etymology

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Reportedly a form of hocus. Possibly from hocus-pocus or Latin iocus (“joke”). Compare hokey.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /həʊks/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /hoʊks/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊks
• Homophone: hokes

Verb

hoax (third-person singular simple present hoaxes, present participle hoaxing, simple past and past participle hoaxed)

1. (transitive) To deceive (someone) by making them believe something that has been maliciously or mischievously fabricated.

Derived terms

• climate hoax
• hoaxer
• hoaxster (rare)

Translations

to deceive with a hoax

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: измамвам (bg) (izmamvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 欺騙／欺骗 (zh) (qīpiàn), 作弄 (zh) (zuònòng), 戲弄／戏弄 (zh) (xìnòng)

• Czech: podvést (cs), napálit (cs)
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: halda fyri gjøldur, lumpa, villa
• Finnish: huijata (fi)
• French: duper (fr), berner (fr)
• Galician: trafulcar m, trapazar, fraudar, engaitar, embougar, embair, deludir, baratar, decebir, falir (gl)
• German: anführen (de), hereinlegen (de), einen Bären aufbinden (de), foppen (de)
• Hebrew: מתח (he) (matákh)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: álhíresztel
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Ido: dup-igo
• Indonesian: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: frodare (it)
• Japanese: ペテンに掛ける (peten-ni kakeru)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Lushootseed: səxʷʔiw̓adəb
• Maori: māminga, tinihanga
• Polish: przekręcać (pl) impf, przekręcić (pl) pf, oszukiwać (pl) impf, oszukać (pl) pf
• Portuguese: fraudar (pt)
• Romanian: păcăli (ro)
• Russian: разы́грывать (ru) impf (razýgryvatʹ), разыгра́ть (ru) pf (razygrátʹ), обманывать (ru) impf (obmanyvatʹ), вводить в заблуждение (ru) impf (vvoditʹ v zabluždenije) (formal)
• Swedish: lura (sv), bedra (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: lừa đảo (vi), chơi khăm (vi)

Noun

hoax (plural hoaxes)

1. Anything deliberately intended to deceive or trick.

   The phone call to the police about a tiger in a tree turned out to be a hoax.

   The news story about the pop singer coming to town, unfortunately for his fans, turned out to be a hoax.

Synonyms

• (deliberately false story or report): canard

Derived terms

• (deliberately false story or report): hoaxical, Hoaxocaust, Holo-hoax

Translations

anything deliberately intended to deceive or trick

• Bulgarian: измама (bg) f (izmama), номер (bg) m (nomer), шега (bg) f (šega)
• Catalan: engany (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騙局／骗局 (zh) (piànjú), 惡作劇／恶作剧 (zh) (èzuòjù)

• Czech: podvod (cs) m, mystifikace f, žert (cs) m, kachna (cs) f
• Esperanto: blago (eo), mistifiko
• Finnish: huijaus (fi)
• French: canular (fr) m, mystification (fr) f, intox (fr) f
• Galician: conto (gl) m, trapallada (gl) f, andrómena (gl) f, algueiro m, alburgada f, enguedello m, grola f, pandullada f, padumada f
• German: Streich (de) m, Trick (de) m, Schabernack (de) m, Gag (de), Falschmeldung (de), Schwindel (de), Ulk (de), Ente (de)
• Greek: φάρσα (el) (fársa)
• Hungarian: átverés (hu), beugratás (hu), kacsa (hu), tréfa (hu)
• Indonesian: hoaks (id)
• Irish: dallamullóg m
• Italian: frode (it) f, inganno (it) m, bufala (it) f
• Japanese: ペテン (ja) (peten), 悪戯 (ja) (いたずら, itazura), でっち上げ (ja) (decchiage)
• Lushootseed: səxʷʔiw̓adəb
• Malay: olokan, olok-olok
• Maori: māminga, tinihanga
• Norwegian: puss (no) n, bedrag (no) n
• Polish: mistyfikacja (pl) f, (dated) szalbierstwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: fraude (pt) f, embuste (pt) m, embustice f, logro (pt) m
• Romanian: cioară vopsită
• Russian: ро́зыгрыш (ru) m (rózygryš), трюк (ru) m (trjuk), мистифика́ция (ru) m (mistifikácija), обма́н (ru) m (obmán)
• Spanish: engaño (es) m, fraude (es) m, embuste (es) m, bulo (es) m (Spain), filfa (es) f
• Swedish: bluff (sv) c
• Tagalog: talimangmang
• Welsh: cast (cy) m