fiction

English

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishficcioun,fromOld Frenchficcion(“dissimulation, ruse, invention”),fromLatinfictiō(“a making, fashioning, a feigning, a rhetorical or legal fiction”),fromfingō(“to form, mold, shape, devise, feign”).Displaced nativeOld Englishlēasspell(literally“false story”).

Pronunciation

• enPR:fĭk′-shən,IPA^(key):/ˈfɪk.ʃən/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation:fic‧tion

• Rhymes:-ɪkʃən

Noun

fiction(countableanduncountable,pluralfictions)

1. (literature)Literary type using invented orimaginativewriting, instead of realfacts,usually written asprose.

   I am a great reader offiction.

   thefictionsection of the library

2. A verbal or written account that is not based on actual events (often intended to mislead).

   The company’s accounts contained a number of blatantfictions.

   The butler’s account of the crime was purefiction.

   separate the fact from thefiction

   • 1963June, G. Freeman Allen, “The success of diesel-hydraulics on the German Federal Railway”, inModern Railways,page390:

     […]in view of the facts—and somefictions—recently circulated in this country about the general performance of high-powered diesel-hydraulics of B.R.,[…].

3. (law)Alegal fiction.

Synonyms

• fabrication
• figment

Antonyms

• documentary
• fact
• non-fiction
• truth

Hyponyms

• science fiction
• speculative fiction

Derived terms

• airport fiction
• autobiografiction
• autofiction
• cli-fi
• cyberfiction
• docufiction
• eco-fiction
• ecofiction
• encyclopedic fiction
• explanatory fiction
• faan fiction
• faction
• fact is stranger than fiction
• fan fiction
• fan-fiction
• fictional
• fictionary
• fictioneer
• fictionise
• fictionish
• fictionist
• fictionization
• fictionize
• fictionkin
• fictionmaking
• fictionmonger
• fictiony
• fictitious
• fictomercial
• flash fiction
• genre fiction
• geofiction
• hard science fiction
• historical fiction
• hyperfiction
• imaginative fiction
• interactive fiction
• literary fiction
• macro-fiction
• manfiction
• message fiction
• metafiction
• micro-fiction
• microfiction
• nonfiction
• non-fiction
• non-mimetic fiction
• paradox of fiction
• petrofiction
• pious fiction
• polite fiction
• proto-science fiction
• pseudofiction
• pulp fiction
• real person fiction
• scientifiction
• slash fiction
• soft science fiction
• sudden fiction
• telefiction
• truth is stranger than fiction
• twiction
• weird fiction
• work of fiction
• xenofiction

Descendants

• →Irish:ficsean
• →Scottish Gaelic:ficsean

Translations

literary type

• Arabic:خَيَال(ar)m(ḵayāl),رِوَايَة(ar)f(riwāya)
• Belarusian:маста́цкая літарату́раf(mastáckaja litaratúra),бэлетры́стыкаf(beljetrýstyka),кра́снае пісьме́нстваn(krásnaje pisʹmjénstva)
• Bulgarian:белетри́стика(bg)f(beletrístika),худо́жествена литерату́раf(hudóžestvena literatúra)
• Catalan:ficció(ca)f
• Cebuano:handurawat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Hư cấu văn học／Hư cấu văn học(xūgòu wénxué),(literally, "novels")Tiểu thuyết／Tiểu thuyết(zh)(xiǎoshuō)

• Czech:beletrie(cs)f
• Danish:fiktionc,skønlitteraturc
• Dutch:fictie(nl)f
• Esperanto:fikcio(eo)
• Estonian:please add this translation if you can
• Faroese:skaldskapur
• Finnish:fiktio(fi),kaunokirjallisuus(fi)
• French:fiction(fr)f,belles-lettres(fr)fpl
• Galician:ficción(gl)f
• German:Fiktion(de)f,Belletristik(de)f
• Greek:μυθιστόρημα(el)m(mythistórima)

  Ancient:μυθολογίαf(muthología)

• Hungarian:szépirodalom(hu)
• Icelandic:skáldskapurm
• Indonesian:fiksi(id)
• Irish:ficseanm(uncountable),finscéalm(countable)
• Italian:finzione(it)f
• Japanese:フィクション(ja)(fikushon),Tiểu thuyết(ja)(しょうせつ, shōsetsu)
• Javanese:dedongèngan
• Kalmyk:урн зокъял(urn zokʺyal)
• Korean:소설( tiểu thuyết )(ko)(soseol),픽션(piksyeon)
• Latin:res ficta,fabula(la)f,commentumn
• Latvian:daiļliteratūraf,beletristika(lv)f
• Lithuanian:grožinė literatūraf
• Macedonian:белетристикаf(beletristika)
• Malay:cereka(ms),cerita rekaan,fiksyen(ms),fiksi
• Maori:pakiwaitara,pakimaero
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:fiksjonm,skjønnlitteratur(no)m

  Nynorsk:fiksjonm,skjønnlitteraturm

• Occitan:ficcion(oc)f
• Old English:lēasspelln
• Persian:داستانی(fa)(dâstâni)
• Plautdietsch:Romaunschreftf
• Polish:beletrystyka(pl)f
• Portuguese:literaturadeficçãof,ficção(pt)f,ficcionismom
• Romanian:literatură artisticăf
• Russian:худо́жественная литерату́ра(ru)f(xudóžestvennaja literatúra),беллетри́стика(ru)f(belletrístika),фи́кшен(ru)m(fíkšen),фикшн(ru)m(fikšn)
• Scottish Gaelic:uirsgeulm,ficseanm
• Slovak:beletriaf
• Spanish:ficción(es)f
• Swahili:bunilizi
• Swedish:fiktion(sv)c,skönlitteratur(sv)c
• Tagalog:kathang-isip,bungang-isip
• Turkish:kurgu(tr)
• Ukrainian:худо́жня літерату́раf(xudóžnja literatúra),белетри́стика(uk)f(beletrýstyka)
• Welsh:ffuglen(cy)f

invention

• Azerbaijani:uydurma(az),qondarma(az)
• Belarusian:вы́мыселm(výmysjel),вы́думкаf(výdumka),фі́кцыяf(fíkcyja)
• Bulgarian:изми́слица(bg)f(izmíslica)
• Catalan:ficció(ca)f
• Czech:fikce(cs)f,výmyslm
• Danish:fantasic,opspind
• Dutch:fictie(nl)f
• Finnish:sepite(fi),fiktio(fi),taru(fi)
• French:fiction(fr)f
• German:Erfindung(de)f
• Icelandic:uppspunim,skáldskapurm
• Macedonian:измислицаf(izmislica)
• Maori:kōrero takuahi
• Middle English:ficcioun
• Occitan:ficcion(oc)f
• Polish:fikcja(pl)f
• Portuguese:ficção(pt)f,invenção(pt)f,fingimento(pt)m,(colloquial)invencionicef
• Russian:вы́мысел(ru)m(výmysel),вы́думка(ru)f(výdumka),фи́кция(ru)f(fíkcija)
• Slovak:výmyselm
• Spanish:ficción(es)f
• Tagalog:gawa-gawa
• Turkish:kurgu(tr)
• Ukrainian:ви́гадкаf(výhadka),фі́кціяf(fíkcija),ви́миселm(výmysel),ви́гадm(výhad)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto:^{(pleaseverify)}fikcio(eo)
• French:^{(pleaseverify)}fiction(fr)f

Further reading

• “fiction”,inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
• “fiction”,inThe Century Dictionary[…],New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,1911,→OCLC.
• “fiction”,inOneLook Dictionary Search.
• "fiction" in Raymond Williams,Keywords(revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 134.

French

Etymology

InheritedfromOld French,borrowed fromLatinfictionem(nominative offictio).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/fik.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fictionf(pluralfictions)

1. fiction

Related terms

• fictif
• science-fiction

Further reading

• “fiction”,inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.