Etymograph

English

fraudulent

Fraudulent comes from Latin fraudulentus ‘deceitful, fraudulent’, and goes back to fraus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfraus1‘fraud’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfraudulentus1‘deceitful, fraudulent’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fraudulent1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fraudulent1‘Dishonest, fraudulent’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1594fraudulent1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English fraudulent
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie: “Secondly, Philoſophy which we are warned not to take…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrausWiktionary, English fraudulent‘fraud’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfraudulentusWiktionary, English fraudulent‘deceitful, fraudulent’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fraudulentWiktionary, English fraudulent
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fraudulentWiktionary, English fraudulent‘Dishonest, fraudulent’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1594fraudulentWiktionary, English fraudulent. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie: “Secondly, Philoſophy which we are warned not to take…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- ‘to deceive, mislead’

dream, drug, drain, drudge, truculent, 17 more

Today it means

adj Dishonest; based on fraud or deception.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fraudulent”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin fraus / fraudulent

Shirt and support for this word