kayfabe
To maintain kayfabe, to deceive by staying in characterTo maintain kayfabe, to deceive by staying in character.
Meaning
1 sensesTo maintain kayfabe, to deceive by staying in character.
Origin
Unknown, but attributed to US carnival slang (carny), usually as a purposefully obscure vaUnknown, but attributed to US carnival slang (carny), usually as a purposefully obscure variant of the admonition “be fake” formed through backslang or mangled pig Latin. Also sometimes attributed to an alteration of cave (Latin for “beware”), keep cavey (“stay alert”), or an eponymous figure named Kay Fabe or Kay Fabian.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
kayfabes, kayfabing, kayfabed, kayfabedLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.