# faint

> English word · Adjective · IPA /feɪnt/ · frequency rank #9,891

## Definitions
1. Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness
2. Lacking courage, spirit, or energy; cowardly; dejected.
3. Barely perceptible; not bright, or loud, or sharp.
4. Performed, done, or acted, weakly; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy.
5. Slight; minimal.
6. Sickly, so as to make a person feel faint.

## Etymology
From Middle English faynt, feynt (“weak; feeble”), from Old French faint, feint (“feigned; negligent; sluggish”), past participle of feindre, faindre (“to feign; sham; work negligently”), from Latin fingere (“to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in thought, imagine, conceive, contrive, devise, feign”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold”). Cognate with feign and fiction and more distantly dough.

## Easily confused with
- **fit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fit)
- **fan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fan)
- **fat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fat)
- **fin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fin)
- **find** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-find)
- **fine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fine)
- **fast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fast)
- **fans** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fans)
- **fair** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fair)
- **fist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fist)
- **font** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-font)
- **Finn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-finn)
- **fiat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fiat)
- **fart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fart)
- **fins** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fins)
- **fang** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fang)
- **fink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fink)
- **fawn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fawn)
- **Fein** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fein)
- **fina** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/faint-vs-fina)

## Common misspellings (7)
`afint`, `fainnt`, `faintt`, `faitn`, `fanit`, `ffaint`, `fiant`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/faint