fard

See also: färd

English

WOTD – 12 December 2018

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɑːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɑɹd/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

The verb is derived from Middle English farden (“to apply cosmetics”) or Middle French farder, from Old French farder (“to make up or paint the face; to disguise; to represent in a false light”), from Frankish *farwidōn (“to colour, dye”), from Proto-Germanic *farwiþōną (“to colour”), from *farwō (“colour”), from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“coloured; motley”).

The word is cognate with Icelandic farða, Latin pulcher (“beautiful”), Old High German farwjan (“to colour”) (modern German Farbe (“colour”)), Middle Low German varwe (“colour”) (Low German Farwe (“colour”)), Welsh erch (“dark brown”).

The noun derived is from French fard (“cosmetics, make-up”), from Old French fart (“cosmetics, make-up”) (masculine) (farde (feminine)); further etymology is uncertain, but a possible derivation is from Old High German gifarwit (“coloured, painted”), past participle of farwjan (“to colour”), from Proto-West Germanic *faru (related to the verb).

Verb

fard (third-person singular simple present fards, present participle farding, simple past and past participle farded)

1. (transitive, archaic) To paint, as the cheeks or face.
   • 1856, Mark Napier, quoting Zachary Boyd, chapter XXXIII, in The Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose, volume II, Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson, […]; London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., →OCLC, footnote 1, page 701:

     The fairest are but farded like the face of Jezebel […]

   • 1989 December 27, Jeffrey Yorke, “Limbaugh’s play on words”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], published 2 January 1990, archived from the original on 27 August 2017:

     Some of the 177 affiliates to the Manhattan-based Rush Limbaugh program complained last Wednesday when the cantankerous national talk show host said he endorsed the efforts of a fellow talk host in Atlanta who called for an end to women "farding in their cars." Limbaugh, who is heard locally on WNTR-AM (1050), told listeners that "farding on the highway is very dangerous as well as offensive to others." Not until Thursday did Limbaugh provide listeners with the meaning of the word "fard," which is to paint with cosmetics.

2. (transitive, archaic) To embellish or gloss over.
   • 1606, William Birnie, “Against Seculare Pompe in Funerals”, in The Blame of Kirk-bvriall, Tending to Persvvade Cemiteriall Civilitie. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Robert Charteris, […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] B[arclay] D[avid] D[onald] Turnbull, editor, The Blame of Kirk-buriall, Tending to Perswade Cemiteriall Civilitie, London: W[illiam] Pickering, […]; Edinburgh: G. A. Douglas, 1833, →OCLC:

     For looke how far fellonie may glory in her fetters, so far may we in our funerals wherewith we but feard death. For as some Gentiles, where gold is vernaculous and plentifull, their catiues thogh therewith enchained, yet remaines catiues: so to vs, thogh our graue were of enamelled gold, yet it is but our graue, the monument of our common misery, that by diuine mercy onely may be remedied without farther meanes.

   • 1623 September 21, Joseph Hall, “Sermon X. The Best Bargain: A Sermon Preached to the Court at Theobald’s on Sunday, September 21, 1623”, in Philip Wynter, editor, The Works of the Right Reverend Joseph Hall, D.D., new revised and corrected edition, volume V, Oxford: At the University Press, published 1863, →OCLC, page 179:

     [I]t is but bare, simple, plain, honest, homely truth, without welt, without guard. It will abide none but native colours. It scorneth to woo favour with farding and licking and counterfeisance. It hates either bought or borrowed beauty; and therefore, like some native face among the painted, looks coarse and rusty.

   • 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 155–156:

     [Y]e handle this matter too tenderly, nor will my conscience permit me to fard or daub over the causes of divine wrath […]

Translations

to paint, as the cheeks or face

• Finnish: laittaa kasvoväriä
• Icelandic: farða
• Ido: fardizar (io)

to embellish or gloss over — see embellish,‎ gloss over

Noun

fard (countable and uncountable, plural fards)

1. (archaic) Colour or paint, especially white paint, used on the face; makeup, war-paint.
   • 1791, John Whitaker, chapter I, in Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in Vols. IV, V, and VI, Quarto, Reviewed, London: Printed for J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, page 4:

     And theſe [including Edward Gibbon] preſent us with the ſkeleton of hiſtory, not merely clothed with muſcles, animated with life, and bearing the bloom of health upon its cheek; but, inſtead of carrying a higher fluſh of health upon its cheek, and ſhewing a brighter beam of life in its eyes, rubbed with Spaniſh wool, painted with French fard, and exhibiting the fire of falſehood and wantonneſs in its eyes.

   • 1856, Mark Napier, quoting James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, chapter XXXIII, in The Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose, volume II, Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson, […]; London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., →OCLC, page 701:

     [Y]et, that your Majesty may not be abused, and that you may see that there is nothing but fard in that which may seem fairest of all their proceedings, I conceive myself obliged in duty and honour to undervalue all their malice, and truly to inform your Majesty in what you are, and may be, so much concerned. [Footnote 1: […] Fard here signifies the false daubing on a harlot's cheek. […]]

   • 1862 February, “Cosmetics”, in William B. Dana, editor, The Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review, volume XLVI, number II, New York, N.Y.: William B. Dana, publisher and proprietor, […], →OCLC, pages 141–142:

     [page 141] Various other paints, or what the French commonly denominate fards, are chiefly made for theatrical use; but they are, nevertheless, extensively used by private individuals. Unfortunately, most of these have for a basis white lead. […] [page 142] In France, where the conservators of public health constitute an intelligent portion of every municipality, prosecutions for selling fatally deleterious fards are far from being uncommon.

Alternative forms

• faird (“16th c.”), Scotland
• feard (“16th c.”)

Translations

colour or paint used on the face

• Finnish: kasvoväri
• Icelandic: farði m, andlitsfarði m, kinnalitur m, litur (is) m, smink n
• Ido: fardo (io)
• Ottoman Turkish: دوزكون (düzgün)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Arabic فَرْض (farḍ, “religious duty”), from فَرَضَ (faraḍa, “to ordain, make obligatory, specify”).

Noun

fard (plural fards)

1. (Islam) A commandment from Allah that a Muslim has to fulfill; a religious duty or obligation.
   • 1995, Norma Tarazi, Zeba Siddiqui, “Islamic Practices, Manners, and Values”, in The Child in Islam: A Muslim Parent’s Handbook, Plainfield, Ind.: American Trust Publications, →ISBN, page 132:

     It is suggested that the child pray only the fardrak'ats at this stage. He can keep adding the sunnah rak'ats from the time he has all the fards completed—that is, from his seventh birthday—so that by age ten he has the entire salat, fards and sunnahs, complete.

Translations

commandment from Allah that a Muslim has to fulfil

• Finnish: fard
• Gujarati: ફર્જ f (pharj), ફર્ઝ f (pharjh), ફરજ (gu) f (pharaj)
• Japanese: ファルド (farudo)
• Malay: fardu (ms)

Adjective

fard (not comparable)

1. (Islam) Required as a matter of religious duty or obligation.
   • 1993, Mawlânâ Diyâ’ Ad-dîn Khâlid, “Introduction”, in Belief and Islam (Hakîkat Kitâbevi Publications; no. 8), Istanbul: Hakîkat Kitâbevi, →OCLC:

     The second fundamental of Islam is "to perform the ritual prayer (namâz, salât) [five times a day in accordance with its conditions and fards] when the time for prayer comes." It is fard for every Muslim to perform salât five times every day after each time of salât starts and to know that he or she performs it in due time.

Translations

(Islam) required as a matter of religious duty or obligation

• Finnish: fard

Etymology 3

Noun

fard (plural fards)

1. (chiefly Scotland, obsolete) Alternative form of ferd (“force of movement; impetus, rush; hence, a violent onset”).
   • [a. 1522, Virgil, chapter XI, in Gawin Douglas [i.e., Gavin Douglas], transl., edited by [George Dundas], The Æneid of Virgil: Translated into Scottish Verse (Bannatyne Club, Publications; 64, no. 1), volume I, Edinburgh: T. Constable, printer, published 1839, →OCLC, page 355, lines 14–17:

     And ſone as he perſavys quhar that went / Forganyſt him, cumand throu greſy ſward, / Hys derreſt ſon Ene with hasty fard, / Baith his handys joyfull furthſtracht he than; […]]

Further reading

• fard (Islam) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• RDFa, darf

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French fard (“make-up, cosmetics”), from farder (“to apply make-up, use cosmetics”), from Old Frankish *farwidōn (“to dye, colour”), from Proto-Germanic *farwiþōną (“to colour”), from *farwō (“colour”), from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“motley, coloured”). Cognate with Old High German farwjan (“to colour”), Middle Low German varwe (“colour”). See more above.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faʁ/

Noun

fard m (plural fards)

1. make-up
2. deception
   • 2023 May, Frédéric Lemaire, “Un pouvoir parasite au cœur de Londres”, in Le Monde diplomatique, page 13:

     « La City n’a jamais été fan du retrait », résume sans fard le Lord Mayor Nicholas Lyons (Le Monde, 17 avril 2023).

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• farder
• piquer un fard

 

Descendants

• → English: fard (noun)
• → Turkish: far

Further reading

• “fard”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from French farder (“to apply paint, makeup (to the face)”).

Noun

fard m (invariable)

1. blusher, rouge

Maltese

Root
f-r-d
4 terms

Etymology

From Arabic فَرْد (fard).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fart/

Adjective

fard (plural frad or frud)

1. odd (not even)
2. single

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *fardi.

Noun

fard f

1. traffic, journey

Declension

Declension of fard (feminine i-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	fard	fardi
accusative	fard	fardi
genitive	fardi	fardiō
dative	fardi	fardium
instrumental	—	—

Descendants

• Middle Low German: vart
  • → Danish: fart
  • → Swedish: fart
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: fart

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French fard.

Noun

fard n (plural farduri)

1. make-up

Declension

Declension of fard

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) fard	fardul	(niște) farduri	fardurile
genitive/dative	(unui) fard	fardului	(unor) farduri	fardurilor
vocative	fardule		fardurilor