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PlainSpell

counterfeit

/ˈkaʊn.tɚˌfɪt/adjective, noun, verb

counterfeit is spelled C-O-U-N-T-E-R-F-E-I-T. The wrong spelling people search most is counterfit: about 160 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Counterfeit is an adjective meaning “False, especially of money; intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine”.

How many letters and syllables are in counterfeit?

Letters11: C-O-U-N-T-E-R-F-E-I-T
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.5 times per million words; the 17,342nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, counterfit, about 160 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell counterfeit?

Counterfeit is spelled C-O-U-N-T-E-R-F-E-I-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for counterfeit in either form.

counterfeitthe right spelling1,770 searches a month
counterfita missing e160 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is counterfeit?

Counterfeit appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,342nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce counterfeit?

  • US /ˈkaʊn.tɚˌfɪt/
  • British /ˈkawntəˌfɪt/

Counterfeit has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-counterfit.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of counterfeit

  • counterfeits plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • counterfeiting participle, present
  • counterfeited participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does counterfeit mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    False, especially of money; intended to deceive or carry appearance of being genuine.

    This counterfeit watch looks like the real thing, but it broke a week after I bought it.

  2. 2

    Inauthentic.

    counterfeit sympathy

  3. 3

    Assuming the appearance of something; deceitful; hypocritical.

noun

  1. 1

    A non-genuine article; a fake.

  2. 2

    One who counterfeits; a counterfeiter.

  3. 3

    obsoleteThat which resembles another thing; a likeness; a portrait; a counterpart.

  4. 4

    obsoleteAn impostor; a cheat.

verb

  1. 1

    To falsely produce what appears to be official or valid; to produce a forged copy of.

    to counterfeit the signature of another, coins, notes, etc.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo produce a faithful copy of.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo feign; to mimic.

    to counterfeit the voice of another person

  4. 4

    Of a turn or river card, to invalidate a player's hand by making a better hand on the board.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Counterfeit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcontrefait (intended to deceive or carry appearance of…), contrefaçon (fake), contrefaire (To produce something that appears to be…)
Germangefälscht, nachgemacht, unecht, Falsch- (intended to deceive or carry appearance of…), Fälschung (fake), falsch (unauthentic)
Portuguesefalsificado, réplica (intended to deceive or carry appearance of…), contrafação, falsificação (fake), contrafazer (To produce something that appears to be…), falso (unauthentic)
Spanishcontrahecho, falsificado, trucho, de similor, bamba, chimbo (intended to deceive or carry appearance of…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does counterfeit come from?

From Middle English counterfeit, countrefet, from Anglo-Norman countrefait, from Old French contrefait, from Latin contra- (“against”) + Latin facere (“to make”). Piecewise doublet of contrafactum.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after counterfeit