Skip to content

feignant

lazybones, slacker

noun feh-NYAHN Rare

Usage Note

Feignant (also spelled fainéant) is a colloquial word for a habitually lazy person. The feignant spelling is a popular phonetic variant of fainéant, and both are widely understood. The feminine form is feignante. The related adjective fainéant can also function attributively: un élève fainéant (a lazy student).

Examples

"Ce feignant ne fait jamais rien."

Natural Translation

That lazybones never does anything.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore French by topic