# fugazi

Pronunciation: say "foo-GAH-zee" US /fuˈɡɑzi/, UK /fuˈɡɑːzi/

## Adjective

1. Fake; not genuine. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: Fake, not real.
   - _Half the designer bags at that flea market are fugazi._
   - _Detectives traced the fugazi twenties back to a print shop in Queens._
3. Completely messed up; broken or damaged beyond repair. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: Totally messed up, or so broken that it can't be fixed.
   - _By the third day of rain the whole operation was fugazi, and nobody could raise headquarters._
   - _The truck took a round through the engine block and was totally fugazi._

## Noun

2. A thing that is fake, or less commonly a person who is a fake or a fraud. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: Something that is fake, or sometimes a person who is a fake.
   - _The dealer swore the painting was genuine, but the appraiser called it a fugazi._
   - _Most of the "vintage" jerseys in that shop are fugazis._

## Origin

**Meaning 3** — Of unknown origin. One theory takes it from French fougasse, a type of land mine used widely in the Korean and Vietnam Wars; less plausibly, it may come from English fugacious or Italian fugace, "fleeting". The acronym "fucked up, got ambushed, zipped in" (zipped into a body bag) is more likely a backronym than the origin.
**Meanings 1–2** — No one is certain of its origin. The usual story makes it Mafia slang drawn from New York's Fugazy Continental limousine company, owned by William Fugazy, either for its cheesy ads in the 1970s and 1980s or because of its alleged poor business practices, and Sicilian fu cazzu ("it was nothing") may have played a part. The film Donnie Brasco (1997) made it widely known.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fugazi (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).