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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː.dʒəɹ.ɪ/
• (US) 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.

Usage notes

The non-fraudulent meaning "metalworking" is more usually expressed with the noun forging, or with other words such as metalworking, smithcraft, etc.

Synonyms

• counterfeit
• fake

Derived terms

• cross-site request forgery
• forger
• philatelic forgery
• postal forgery

 

Translations

the act of forging metal into shape

• Afrikaans: smedery
• Bulgarian: коване (bg) n (kovane)
• Dutch: smederij (nl), smeden (nl) n
• Finnish: taonta (fi)
• German: Schmieden (de) n
• Polish: kucie (pl) n
• 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

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

  Mandarin: 偽造／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
• Korean: 위조 (ko) (wijo)
• Latin: falsificatio f
• Malay: pemalsuan (ms)
• 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
• Turkish: sahtecilik (tr)

that which is forged or counterfeited

• Afrikaans: vervalsing (af)
• 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)

• 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)
• 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)
• Latin: (Modern Latin) ^{(please verify)} contrafactio, ^{(please verify)} falsificatio, (Classical Latin) ^{(please verify)} falsum
• Norman: ^{(please verify)} forgéthie f (Jersey)