sycophant

Etymology
. From, from , itself from +. The gesture of "showing the fig" was a vulgar one, which was made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, which is itself symbolic of a, which also meant vulva. The story behind this etymology is that politicians in ancient Greece steered clear of displaying that vulgar gesture, but secretly urged their followers to taunt their opponents by using it.

Cognate with 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬.

Noun

 * 1) One who uses obsequious compliments to gain self-serving favour or advantage from another; a servile flatterer.
 * 2) One who seeks to gain through the powerful and influential.
 * 3)  An informer; a talebearer.
 * 1) One who seeks to gain through the powerful and influential.
 * 2)  An informer; a talebearer.
 * 1)  An informer; a talebearer.
 * 1)  An informer; a talebearer.

Translations

 * Afrikaans: beroepsverklikker, sikofant
 * Arabic: مُتَمَلِّق ذَلِيل
 * Armenian:, քծնող
 * Azerbaijani:
 * Basque:
 * Bengali: ,
 * Bulgarian:, подмазвач
 * Burmese:
 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Cantonese: 擦鞋仔, 擦鞋狗
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech:, pochlebovač
 * Danish: spytslikker, rygklapper, røvslikker, sykofant, hofsnog, øjentjener
 * Dutch:, , , pluimstrijker, ,
 * Esperanto: flatisto, flatulo
 * Estonian: takkakiitja, pealekaebaja
 * Finnish:, , , ,
 * French:, ,
 * Galician: candongueiro, compangón, gaioleiro, lambecús, labiantón, louvamiñeiro, lambespiñas, mingamona, panxolas,, blandicioso, boriante, trasloeiro, cirigaitas, aleimador, gariteiro
 * Georgian:
 * German:, , ,
 * Greek:, false friend:
 * Hebrew:
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic: smjaðrari, höfðingjasleikja, undirlægja
 * Italian:, , , , ,
 * Japanese: ごますり
 * Khmer:
 * Korean:
 * Latin: assecula
 * Latvian:
 * Lithuanian: pataikūnas
 * Macedonian: подлизурко
 * Malay: pengampu
 * Maltese: lagħqi
 * Manx: foalserey
 * Mongolian:
 * Norwegian:, spyttsleiker
 * Pashto: ,
 * Persian:, خایه‌مال
 * Polish:, ,
 * Portuguese:, , , , ,
 * Punjabi: ਚਮਚਾ
 * Romanian:, pupincurist
 * Russian:, , ,
 * Scots: kiss-ma-luif
 * Scottish Gaelic: sodalaiche
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: улизица
 * Roman:
 * Spanish:, , , , , , ,  , ,
 * Swedish:, , ,
 * Tagalog: sipsip
 * Thai:
 * Turkish:
 * Vietnamese:
 * Welsh: gwenieithwr

Verb

 * 1)  To inform against; hence, to calumniate.
 * 2)  To play the sycophant toward; to flatter obsequiously.
 * 1)  To play the sycophant toward; to flatter obsequiously.