disguise

English

Etymology

Middle English disgisen, disguisen, borrowed from Old French desguiser (modern déguiser), itself derived from des- (“dis-”)" (from Latin dis-) + guise (“guise”) (from a Germanic source).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈɡaɪz/, /dɪzˈɡaɪz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈɡaɪz/, /dɪˈskaɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dis‧guise
• Rhymes: -aɪz

Noun

disguise (countable and uncountable, plural disguises)

1. Material (such as clothing, makeup, a wig) used to alter one’s visual appearance in order to hide one's identity or assume another.

   A cape and moustache completed his disguise.

2. (figuratively) The appearance of something on the outside which masks what's beneath.
3. The act of disguising, notably as a ploy.

   Any disguise may expose soldiers to be deemed enemy spies.

4. (archaic) A change of behaviour resulting from intoxication.

Synonyms

• camouflage
• guise
• mask
• pretense

Translations

attire to hide/assume an identity

• Bulgarian: дегизиране n (degizirane)
• Catalan: disfressa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 偽裝 (jōngngai)

  Mandarin: 偽裝 (zh), 伪装 (zh) (wěichěng)

• Czech: převlek m
• Danish: forklædning c
• Dutch: vermomming (nl) f, mom (nl) n
• Esperanto: alivesto
• Finnish: valeasu, valepuku
• French: déguisement (fr) m
• German: Verkleidung (de) f
• Hebrew: תַּחְפֹּשֶׂת‎ (he) f (taẖpóset)
• Hungarian: álruha (hu)

• Icelandic: dulargervi (is) n, dulbúningur (is) m
• Italian: camuffamento m, travestimento m, mascheramento (it) m
• Japanese: 変装 (へんそう, hensō)
• Korean: 변장 (ko) (byeonjang)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forkledning (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: forkledning f or m, forklednad m

• Polish: kamuflaż (pl)
• Portuguese: disfarce (pt) m
• Romanian: deghizare (ro) f, mascare (ro) f, acoperire (ro) f
• Russian: маскиро́вка (ru) f (maskiróvka)
• Spanish: disfraz (es) m
• Yiddish: פֿאַרשטעלונג‎ f (farshtelung)

that which masks what's beneath

• Bulgarian: маскиране n (maskirane)
• Czech: převlek m
• Danish: camouflage c, maskering c
• Finnish: naamiointi
• German: Tarnung (de) f
• Hungarian: álca (hu)

• Icelandic: dulargervi (is) n, dulbúningur (is) m
• Italian: camuffamento m
• Polish: kamuflaż (pl) m
• Russian: маскиро́вка (ru) f (maskiróvka)
• Spanish: pantalla (es) f, tapadera (es) f

act of disguising

• Danish: forklædning c, camouflage c
• Icelandic: dulbúningur (is) m

• Italian: travestimento m
• Polish: kamuflaż (pl), kamuflowanie (pl) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} samaran (id)

Verb

disguise (third-person singular simple present disguises, present participle disguising, simple past and past participle disguised)

1. (transitive) To change the appearance of (a person or thing) so as to hide, or to assume an identity.

   Spies often disguise themselves.

   • 1911, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Bunyan, John”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:

     Bunyan was forced to disguise himself as a wagoner.

2. (transitive) To avoid giving away or revealing (something secret); to hide by a false appearance.

   He disguised his true intentions.

3. (archaic) To affect or change by liquor; to intoxicate.
   • (Can we date this quote by Spectator and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     I have just left the right worshipful, and his myrmidons, about a sneaker or five gallons; the whole magistracy was pretty well disguised before I gave them the slip.

   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     But my lord was angry, and being disguised with liquor too, he would not let him go till they played more; and play they did, and the luck still went the same way; […]

Synonyms

• camouflage
• cloak
• mask
• hide

Derived terms

• disguisedly
• disguisement
• disguiser

Translations

to change the appearance

• Bulgarian: маскирам (bg) (maskiram)
• Catalan: disfressar (ca)
• Danish: forklæde (da), maskere
• Dutch: vermommen (nl), zich vermommen (nl), verhullen (nl)
• Esperanto: alivesti
• Finnish: naamioida, naamioitua (fi)
• French: déguiser (fr)
• Hebrew: הסווה‎ (hisvá)
• Hungarian: álcáz (hu)

• Interlingua: disguisar
• Italian: camuffarsi (it), travestirsi, mascherarsi
• Latin: dissimulō
• Macedonian: преправа (preprava), престорува (prestoruva)
• Norwegian: forkle (no), maskere
• Portuguese: disfarçar (pt)
• Romanian: deghiza (ro), masca (ro)
• Russian: маскирова́ться (ru) impf (maskirovátʹsja), замаскирова́ться (ru) pf (zamaskirovátʹsja)
• Spanish: disfrazar (es)
• Yiddish: פֿאַרשטעלן‎ (farshteln)

to prevent revealing something secret

• Bulgarian: прикривам (bg) (prikrivam)
• Danish: camouflere, tilsløre
• Dutch: verbergen (nl), verhullen (nl), maskeren (nl)
• Finnish: naamioida, salata (fi), peittää (fi)
• German: verstellen (de)
• Hungarian: leplez (hu), elleplez, palástol (hu)

• Ido: velizar (io)
• Italian: camuffare (it), nascondere (it), mascherare (it), inorpellare (it)
• Macedonian: прикрива (prikriva), затскрива (zatskriva)
• Portuguese: esconder (pt)
• Russian: скрыва́ть (ru) impf (skryvátʹ), скрыть (ru) pf (skrytʹ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} menyamar (id), ^{(please verify)} menyamarkan (id)