What does faining mean?
Faining is the present participle and gerund of the largely obsolete English verb 'fain', which means to be glad or willing to do something. To be faining, then, is to desire or welcome something eagerly and gladly — as when a traveller, faining to rest, stops at an inn for the night. The underlying adjective 'fain' survives faintly in literary English ('he was fain to admit'), but its participial form is now rare, appearing mostly in historical fiction, older poetry, and scriptural prose. The word carries a warm, earnest connotation of genuine willingness, which makes it an interesting contrast with its visual twin 'feigning', which denotes pretence rather than sincerity. Readers encountering faining today should understand it as a marker of archaic register rather than current everyday usage.
verbThe present participle and gerund of the archaic verb 'fain', meaning gladly or willingly desiring or accepting something; now found almost exclusively in literary or historical prose.
- Archaic: gladly or eagerly desiring or being willing to do something (present participle/gerund of 'fain').
"Faining to speak with her before the journey's end, he quickened his pace along the road."
"Faining to rest after the long march, the soldiers made camp at dusk."
"She stood at the gate, faining a last glimpse of the departing ship."
Swap one letter and you change everything: to be faining is to want something sincerely, while feigning is to fake it entirely.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of faining
The word derives from Old English 'fægen', meaning glad or rejoicing, from Germanic roots also reflected in Old Norse 'feginn' (glad). The adjective 'fain' passed into Middle English meaning both 'glad' and 'gladly, willingly', and by extension came to function as a verb expressing eager desire. Its use has steadily declined since the early modern period, leaving 'faining' as a literary survival.
Related word forms
How faining is actually used
Highly literary and archaic in modern English; encountered mainly in older literature such as the King James Bible and Romantic poetry. In contemporary writing it would strike most readers as deliberately antique. It is easily misread as 'feigning'.
Easily confused with faining
'Feigning' means pretending or faking something, while 'faining' is an archaic word for gladly desiring something — despite their near-identical spelling and pronunciation.