fraud

See also: frauð

English

Etymology

From Middle English fraude (recorded since 1345), from Old French fraude, a borrowing from Latin fraus (“deceit, injury, offence”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fɹɔːd/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) enPR: frôd, IPA^(key): /fɹɔd/
• (cot–caught merger, Inland Northern American) enPR: frŏd, IPA^(key): /fɹɑd/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːd

Noun

fraud (countable and uncountable, plural frauds)

1. (law) The crime of stealing or otherwise illegally obtaining money by use of deception tactics.

   Synonyms: swindle, scam, deceit, grift

2. Any act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain.
   • 1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], OCLC 228744960, canto II:

     When success a lover's toil attends, / Few ask, if fraud or force attain'd his ends.

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎^[1]:

     But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.

3. The assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end.
4. A person who performs any such trick.

   Synonyms: faker, fraudster, imposter, trickster; see also Thesaurus:deceiver

5. (obsolete) A trap or snare.
   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398:

     to draw the proud King Ahab into fraud

Related terms

• defraud
• fraudulence
• fraudulent
• fraudulently
• fraudulentness
• insurance fraud
• mail fraud
• pious fraud
• wire fraud

Translations

an act of deception

• Arabic: غِشّ‎ (ar) m (ḡišš), اِحْتِيال‎ m (iḥtiyāl), تَزْوِير‎ m (tazwīr)
• Armenian: խաբեբայություն (hy) (xabebayutʿyun), խարդախություն (hy) (xardaxutʿyun), նենգություն (hy) (nengutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: fırıldaq
• Belarusian: махля́рства n (maxljárstva), машэ́льніцтва n (mašélʹnictva), ашука́нства (be) n (ašukánstva), круце́льства n (krucjélʹstva)
• Bulgarian: изма́ма (bg) f (izmáma), изма́ми (bg) f pl (izmámi)
• Catalan: frau (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騙局 (zh), 骗局 (zh) (piànjú), 詐騙 (zh), 诈骗 (zh) (zhàpiàn), 詐欺 (zh), 诈欺 (zh) (zhàqī)

• Czech: podvod (cs) m
• Danish: bedrageri n, svindel c
• Dutch: fraude (nl) c, flessentrekkerij (nl) f, bedrog (nl) n, oplichterij (nl) f, oplichting (nl) f, zwendel (nl) m
• Esperanto: fraŭdo (eo), trompo
• Estonian: kelmus
• Faroese: svik n
• Finnish: petos (fi), vilppi (fi), huijaus (fi), vilunki (fi) (informal), kusetus (fi) (informal), petkutus (fi), huiputus (fi), puijaus, petkuttaminen (fi), huiputtaminen (fi), puijaaminen (fi), huijaaminen (fi), pettäminen (fi)
• French: fraude (fr)
• Galician: fraude (gl) m
• Georgian: თაღლითობა (taɣlitoba)
• German: Betrug (de) m, Schwindel (de) m
• Greek: απάτη (el) f (apáti)
• Hebrew: רַמָּאוּת‎ f (ramaút)
• Hindi: धोखा (hi) m (dhokhā), छल (hi) m (chal)
• Hungarian: csalás (hu), szélhámosság (hu)
• Ido: fraudo (io)
• Indonesian: penipuan (id)
• Irish: calaois f

  Old Irish: écubus m

• Italian: frode (it) m, frodi (it) pl, baratteria f

• Japanese: 詐欺 (ja) (さぎ, sagi)
• Korean: 사기(詐欺) (ko) (sagi)
• Latin: fraus (la) f, captiō f
• Latvian: krāpšana f
• Lithuanian: sukčiavimas m
• Macedonian: измама f (izmama)
• Malayalam: തട്ടിപ്പ് (ml) (taṭṭippŭ), വഞ്ചന (ml) (vañcana), കള്ളം (ml) (kaḷḷaṃ)
• Maori: hara taware, hoko tāhae
• Norwegian: bedrageri n, svindel (no) m
• Persian: شیادی‎ (fa) (šayyâdi), کلاهبرداری‎ (fa) (kolâhbardâri), فریب‎ (fa) (farib)
• Plautdietsch: Schwindel m
• Polish: oszustwo (pl) n, wyłudzenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: fraude (pt) f, falcatrua (pt) f, logro (pt) m, estelionato (pt) (legal)
• Romanian: înșelăciune (ro) f
• Russian: моше́нничество (ru) n (mošénničestvo), жу́льничество (ru) n (žúlʹničestvo), афе́ра (ru) f (aféra), шу́лерство (ru) n (šúlerstvo)
• Sanskrit: कपट (sa) m (kapaṭa)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: превара f

  Roman: prevara (sh) f

• Slovak: podvod m
• Slovene: prevara (sl) f, goljufija f, potegavščina f
• Spanish: fraude (es) m
• Swahili: ghashi (sw), sakata (sw)
• Swedish: bedrägeri (sv) n, svindel (sv) c
• Tagalog: daya, pandaraya
• Thai: การฉ้อโกง (gaan-chɔ̂ɔ-goong), การโกง (th), การทุจริต (th) (gaan-tút-jà-rìt)
• Turkish: dolandırıcılık (tr)
• Ukrainian: шахра́йство n (šaxrájstvo)
• Vietnamese: sự gian lận (vi) (事奸吝), sự gian trá (vi) (事奸詐), sự lừa lọc (vi) (事嚧𤀓)
• Welsh: twyll (cy) m
• Yiddish: שווינדל‎ (shvindl)

assumption of a false identity to such deceptive end

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 騙局 (zh), 骗局 (zh) (piànjú), 詐騙 (zh), 诈骗 (zh) (zhàpiàn)

• Danish: bedrageri n, forfalskning c
• Finnish: petos (fi), huijaus (fi), vale-

• German: Hochstapelei (de) f
• Maori: hara tāware
• Portuguese: falsidade ideológica f
• Swedish: bedrägeri (sv) n, förfalskning (sv) c
• Tagalog: daya, pandaraya

one who performs fraud

• Armenian: խաբեբա (hy) (xabeba), խարդախ (hy) (xardax), սրիկա (hy) (srika)
• Azerbaijani: fırıldaqçı (az)
• Bulgarian: измамник (bg) m (izmamnik), мошеник (bg) m (mošenik)
• Catalan: defraudador m, defraudadora f, impostor m, impostora f
• Danish: bedrager c, svindler c
• Dutch: fraudeur (nl) m, oplichter (nl) m, bedrieger (nl) n, charlatan (nl) m, vervalser (nl) m
• Finnish: huijari (fi), petkuttaja (fi), kusettaja (fi) (informal), puijari, huiputtaja
• French: imposteur (fr) m, charlatan (fr) m, fraudeur (fr) m
• Galician: moinante (gl) m, truán (gl) m, faramalleiro m
• German: Betrüger (de) m, Betrügerin (de) f, Hochstapler (de) m
• Greek: απατεώνας (el) m (apateónas)

  Ancient: ἀπατεών m (apateṓn)

• Hungarian: csaló (hu), szélhámos (hu)
• Indonesian: penipu (id)

• Japanese: 詐欺師 (ja) (さぎし, sagishi), ペテン師 (ペテンし, petenshi)
• Latin: fraudātor m
• Malayalam: വഞ്ചകൻ (ml) m (vañcakaṉ), തട്ടിപ്പുകാരൻ m (taṭṭippukāraṉ)
• Persian: شیاد‎ (fa) (šayyâd), کلاهبردار‎ (fa) (kolâhbardâr), آپارتی‎ (fa) (âpârti)
• Polish: oszust (pl) m, oszustka (pl) f, szachraj (pl) m, szachrajka f, szalbierz (pl) m
• Portuguese: fraudador (pt) m
• Russian: моше́нник (ru) m (mošénnik), жу́лик (ru) m (žúlik), афери́ст (ru) m (aferíst), шу́лер (ru) m (šúler)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: преварант m

  Roman: prevarant (sh) m

• Spanish: defraudador (es)
• Swedish: bedragare (sv) c
• Ukrainian: шахра́й (šaxráj)

Verb

fraud (third-person singular simple present frauds, present participle frauding, simple past and past participle frauded)

1. (obsolete) To defraud

Translations

defraud — see defraud

See also

• embezzlement
• false billing
• false advertising
• forgery
• identity theft
• predatory lending
• quackery
• usury
• white-collar crime

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

fraud f

1. (pre-1938) alternative form of frau