hypocrite

English

Etymology

From Old French ypocrite (Modern French hypocrite), from Latin hypocrita, from Ancient Greek ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs, “actor, hypocrite”), from ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai, “I answer, act, feign”). Displaced native Old English līċettere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɪ.pə.kɹɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

hypocrite (plural hypocrites)

1. Someone who practices hypocrisy, who pretends to hold beliefs, or whose actions are not consistent with their claimed beliefs. [from early 13th c.]

   Synonyms: flip-flopper, pretender; see also Thesaurus:deceiver

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 6:5:

     And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

   • 1765, Catherine Jemmat, The Memoirs of Mrs. Catherine Jemmat, Daughter of the Late Admiral Yeo, of Plymouth. Written by Herself, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Printed for the author, at Charing-Cross, →OCLC, page 145:

     [S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […]

   • 2012 November 30, Paul Finkelman, “The Real Thomas Jefferson: The Monster of Monticello”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Neither Mr. Meacham, who mostly ignores Jefferson’s slave ownership, nor Mr. Wiencek, who sees him as a sort of fallen angel who comes to slavery only after discovering how profitable it could be, seem willing to confront the ugly truth: the third president was a creepy, brutal hypocrite.

Derived terms

• act the hypocrite
• hypocrite commit
• hypocrite plant

Translations

person practising hypocrisy

• Afrikaans: skynheilige, huigelaar
• Albanian: shtiak (sq), hipokrit (sq) m
• Arabic: مُرَاءٍ (ar) m (murāʔin), مُنَافِق m (munāfiq)

  Hijazi Arabic: مُنَافِق m (munāfig)

• Armenian: երեսպաշտ (hy) (erespašt), փարիսեցի (hy) (pʻarisecʻi)
• Aromanian: ipucrit m, ipucritã f
• Azerbaijani: riyakar, ikiüzlü
• Basque: hipokrita, itxurati
• Belarusian: крывадушнік m (kryvadušnik), крывадушніца f (kryvadušnica)
• Breton: pilpouz (br)
• Bulgarian: лицемер (bg) m (licemer)
• Catalan: hipòcrita (ca)v
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偽善者／伪善者 (zh) (wěishànzhě), 偽君子／伪君子 (zh) (wěijūnzǐ), 鄉愿 (zh) (xiāngyuàn)

• Czech: pokrytec (cs) m, pokrytkyně f
• Danish: hykler (da) c
• Dutch: huichelaar (nl) m, hypocriet (nl) m, schijnheilige (nl) m
• Esperanto: hipokritulo, fariseo (eo), granda parolisto, malgranda faristo
• Estonian: silmakirjatseja
• Ewe: alakpatɔ
• Finnish: tekopyhä (fi) (adjective), hurskastelija (fi), ulkokultainen (fi) (adjective)
• French: hypocrite (fr) m or f, pharisien (fr) m, pharisienne (fr) f, tartufe (fr) m or f, tartuffe (fr) m or f
• Galician: moina m, camanduleiro m, sumelgo m, macangón m, gurita (gl) m, talegueiro m, santilorio m
• Georgian: ფარისეველი (pariseveli), თვალთმაქცი (tvaltmakci)
• German: Heuchler (de) m, Heuchlerin (de) f
• Greek: υποκριτής (el) m (ypokritís), υποκρίτρια (el) f (ypokrítria), φαρισαίος (el) m (farisaíos), φαρισαία f (farisaía)
• Hebrew: צבוע \ צָבוּעַ (he) f (tsavúa)
• Hindi: पाखंडी (hi) (pākhaṇḍī)
• Hungarian: képmutató (hu), álszent (hu)
• Icelandic: hræsnari m
• Indonesian: munafik (id)
• Irish: fimíneach
• Italian: ipocrita (it) m or f, collotorto m
• Japanese: 偽善者 (ja) (ぎぜんしゃ, gizensha), 偽君子 (ぎくんし, gikunshi)
• Korean: 위선자(僞善者) (ko) (wiseonja)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دووڕوو (ckb) (dûrrû)

  Northern Kurdish: durû (ku)

• Latgalian: bliednīks, vaigmejiejs, labieds
• Latvian: liekulis, divkosis
• Lithuanian: veidmainys, apsimetėlis
• Macedonian: лицеме́р m (licemér), лицеме́рка f (licemérka), дволичник m (dvoličnik)
• Malay: munafik, hipokrit (ms), purasetia
• Ngazidja Comorian: mnafiki class 1/2
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hykler m

  Nynorsk: hyklar m

• Old English: līċettere m
• Persian: منافق (fa) (monâfeq)
• Polish: hipokryta (pl) m, hipokrytka f
• Portuguese: hipócrita (pt) m or f
• Romanian: ipocrit (ro) m, ipocrită (ro) f
• Russian: ханжа́ (ru) m (xanžá), лицеме́р (ru) m (licemér)
• Scots: gar-me-trou
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лицемер m, лицемерка f, дволичник m, дволичњак m, дволичњакиња f, химбеник m, хипокрит m

  Roman: licemer m, licemerka f, dvoličnik (sh) m, dvoličnjak (sh) m, dvoličnjakinja f, himbenik (sh) m, hipokrit (sh) m

• Slovak: pokrytec m
• Slovene: hinavec (sl) m, hinavka f
• Spanish: hipócrita (es)
• Sranan Tongo: hoigriman
• Swedish: hycklare (sv) c, skrymtare (sv) c
• Tagalog: balubalo, talipandas
• Telugu: కపటి (te) (kapaṭi)
• Thai: ผู้หลอกลวง (pôo-lòk-luang), คนหน้าซื่อใจคด, คนมือถือสากปากถือศีล, คนหน้าไหว้หลังหลอก, คนเสแสร้ง
• Turkish: ikiyüzlü (tr), riyakar (tr), münafık (tr)
• Ukrainian: ханжа m (xanža), лицемір m (lycemir)
• Urdu: منافق (munāfiq)
• Vietnamese: kẻ đạo đức giả, kẻ giả nhân giả nghĩa, kẻ giả hình
• Welsh: rhagrithiwr m, rhagrithwraig f
• Yiddish: צדיק אין פּעלץ (tsadek in pelts) (religious hypocrite), היפּאָקריט m (hipokrit), צבֿועק m (tsvuak)

See also

• two-faced
• double standard
• hypocritical

Further reading

• The Origin of the Term Hypokritēs

Anagrams

• rheotypic

French

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /i.pɔ.kʁit/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

hypocrite (plural hypocrites)

1. hypocritical
   • 1857, Charles Baudelaire, “Au lecteur”, in Les Fleurs du mal [The Flowers of Evil], Paris: Poulet-Malassis et De Broise:

     Tu le connais, lecteur, ce monstre délicat, / — Hypocrite lecteur, — mon semblable, — mon frère !

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• hypocritement

Noun

hypocrite m or f by sense (plural hypocrites)

1. hypocrite

Synonyms

• (informal) faux-cul, faux cul, faux jeton

Descendants

• → Romanian: ipocrit.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• chypriote, Chypriote