faker

Etymology

From fake + -er.

noun

1. One who fakes something.
2. An impostor or impersonator.
   Sonic: I found you, faker! 2001-06-23, Sonic Team USA, Sonic Adventure 2, Sega, published 2001
3. (military, by extension) A friendly unit (usually aircraft) that acts as a hostile unit in a military exercise.
   faker: A friendly track acting as a hostile for exercise purposes. (STANAG 1241) 2011, APP-6C: NATO Joint Military Symbology, page 555
4. (obsolete) A thief.
5. (obsolete) A peddler of petty things.
   He has been lagged for beaker hunting, was a mushroom faker [umbrella seller], has been on the steel for snamming a wedge sneezer; […] 1859, Snowden's Magistrates Assistant, page 497
6. A snake oil salesman; one who makes exaggerated claims about a product he sells.
   Yet the faker is not an unpopular visitor to the country fair. On the contrary, a country fair at which was not heard the stentorian shouts of the faker to "come on, boys; here's the chance to make your fortune," would be considered a dismal failure. 1906, Clifton Rodman Wooldridge, The Grafters of America: Who They are and how They Work, page 248
   All the doctor has to do nowadays is to read the labels on the bottles and boxes of samples the faker brings him. 1909 May, G. Frank Lydston, “Honor to Whom Honor is Due”, in The Medical Standard, volume 32, page 248
   Business interests citizens against the food adulterator are severely hampered and injured and the "patent-medicine” faker. 1912 June, Locomotive Engineers Journal, volume 46, number 6, page 535

adj

1. comparative form of fake: more fake.
   The name sounds faker than fake. 2016, Laura Stampler, Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies, page 147
   He returns my smile, although his is probably faker than mine. 2018, Jessica Brody, Better You Than Me, page 7
   She's faker than the plastic food in the pictures on the McDonald's menu. 2022, Amanda Elliot, Sadie on a Plate, page 155