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What is "faineant"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
faineant

faineant \fai`ne`ant"\, fain'eant \fai`n['e]`ant"\(f[asl]`n[asl]`[aum]N"), a. [F.; fait he does + n['e]ant nothing.] Doing nothing; shiftless; disinclined to work or exertion.

Syn: bone-idle, bone-lazy, do-nothing(prenominal), indolent, lazy, otiose, shiftless, slothful, workshy, work-shy.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
faineant

1855; earlier as a noun (1610s); from French fainéant (16c.) "do-nothing," from fait, third person singular of faire "to do" (see factitious) + néant "nothing" (compare dolce far niente). According to OED this is a French folk-etymology alteration of Old French faignant (14c.), present participle of faindre "to feign" (see feign). Applied in French to the late Merovingian kings, puppets in the hands of the palace mayors. Related: Faineance "the habit of doing nothing."

Wiktionary
faineant

n. An irresponsible or lazy person.

fainéant

n. (alternative spelling of faineant English)

WordNet
faineant

adj. disinclined to work or exertion; "faineant kings under whose rule the country languished"; "an indolent hanger-on"; "too lazy to wash the dishes"; "shiftless idle youth"; "slothful employees"; "the unemployed are not necessarily work-shy" [syn: indolent, lazy, otiose, slothful, work-shy]

Usage examples of "faineant".

Her explosion fell on the head of Phineas Finn, whom she found at home with his wife, deploring the necessity which had fallen upon him of filling the faineant office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.