impostor
noun /ɪmˈpɒstə(r)/
/ɪmˈpɑːstər/
(British English also imposter)
- a person who pretends to be somebody else in order to trick peopleWord Originlate 16th cent. (in early use spelled imposture, and sometimes confused with imposture in meaning): from French imposteur, from late Latin impostor, contraction of impositor, from Latin imponere ‘inflict, deceive’ (from in- ‘in, upon’ + ponere ‘put’).