canard means A false or misleading report or story, especially if deliberately so. It carries an Arena rating of 1589, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, canard ranks #443 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #845 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #1,191 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,422 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words.
canard is pronounced /kəˈnɑɹd/.
Why “canard” is a great word
A false or misleading report or story, especially one deliberately fabricated, from the French canard ("duck, hoax"), from the Old French quanart ("drake, cackler"), likely from the expression vendre un canard à moitié ("to half-sell a duck"), a proverbial term for a swindle, first recorded in English c. 1840–50. Unlike a "hoax," which often courts spectacle, or a "fabrication," which neutrally denotes invention, a canard is a derogatory rumor given wings, born solely to be believed. It is the slander whispered over garden walls, the absurd headline shared in good faith, the geopolitical lie that outlives its own debunking—a testament to our enduring appetite for the maliciously untrue, thriving not because it is believed, but because it feels true in the damp corners of suspicion.
Etymology
Borrowed from French canard (“duck, hoax”). etymology note The primary English meaning of canard comes from the Medieval French expression “vendre un canard à moitié”, which literally means “to sell half a duck” or “to half-sell a duck”. This was perhaps the punch line to a joke. Eventually the punch line came to stand for the joke and then finally the word alone stood for the whole concept. The story may perhaps have gone like this: A duck seller is successful and content as the only duck seller on a street, selling his ducks for eight francs each. A new duck seller moves in across the street who steals all the business by offering his ducks for seven francs each. Then a price war ensues, back and forth, until the new duck seller is down to three francs for a duck. The original duck selle
noun
- A false or misleading report or story, especially if deliberately so.e.g.“It’s a cinch, now that Spurling has cleared away a century’s worth of misapprehensions and canards.” — 2005 August 29, The New Yorker, page 78:
- A type of aircraft in which the primary horizontal control and stabilization surfaces are in front of the main wing.
- A horizontal control and stabilization surface located in front of the main wing of an aircraft.
- Any small winglike structure on a vehicle, usually used for stabilization.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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