fainéant

American  

[fey-nee-uhnt, fe-ney-ahn] / ˈfeɪ ni ənt, fɛ neɪˈɑ̃ /

adjective

1. Also faineant idle; indolent.

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noun

plural

fainéants

1. an idler.

fainéant British  

/ ˈfeɪnɪənt, fɛneɑ̃ /

noun

1. a lazy person; idler

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adjective

1. indolent

Other Word Forms

• faineance noun

Etymology

Origin of fainéant

First recorded in 1610–20; from French, earlier fait-nient, literally, “he does nothing,” folk etymology of Old French faignant “idler,” noun use of present participle of se faindre “to shirk ”; see feign, faint

Example Sentences

For George III. was by no means inclined to be a Roi fainéant.

From The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Yonge, Charles Duke

It is only for the loafer that he has no pity; when he has called a fellow-creature fainéant, he has used the strongest invective in his vocabulary.

From English Pharisees and French Crocodiles and Other Anglo-French Typical Characters by O'Rell, Max

The government of a native state by clerks and chuprassies, with a beautiful fainéant Political Agent for Sundays and Hindu festivals, is, I am told, a thing of the past.

From Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series by Aberigh-Mackay, George Robert

You call me trifler, fainéant, And bid me give my life an aim!—

From Point Lace and Diamonds by Day, Francis

Let me tell you, Lady Glencora, that a fainéant government is not the worst government that England can have.

From Phineas Finn The Irish Member by Trollope, Anthony