fard
/fɑːd/US/fɑɹd/
fard verb: to paint, as the cheeks or face. Also the alternative form of ferd.
Verb
fard (third-person singular simple present fards, present participle farding, simple past and past participle farded)
- To paint, as the cheeks or face.
- The fairest are but farded like the face of Jezebel […]1856, Mark Napier, quoting Zachary Boyd, chapter XXXIII, in The Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose, volume II, Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson, […]; London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., →OCLC, footnote 1...
- Some of the 177 affiliates to the Manhattan-based Rush Limbaugh program complained last Wednesday when the cantankerous national talk show host said he endorsed the efforts of a fellow talk host in Atlanta who called for an end to women "farding in their cars." Limbaugh, who is heard locally on...1989 December 27, Jeffrey Yorke, “Limbaugh’s play on words”, in The Washington Post, published 2 January 1990, archived from the original on 27 Aug 2017
- To embellish or gloss over.
- For looke how far fellonie may glory in her fetters, so far may we in our funerals wherewith we but feard death. For as some Gentiles, where gold is vernaculous and plentifull, their catiues thogh therewith enchained, yet remaines catiues: so to vs, thogh our graue were of enamelled gold, yet it is...1606, William Birnie, “Against Seculare Pompe in Funerals”, in The Blame of Kirk-bvriall, Tending to Persvvade Cemiteriall Civilitie. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Robert Charteris, […], →OCLC...
- [I]t is but bare, simple, plain, honest, homely truth, without welt, without guard. It will abide none but native colours. It scorneth to woo favour with farding and licking and counterfeisance. It hates either bought or borrowed beauty; and therefore, like some native face among the painted, looks...1623 September 21, Joseph Hall, “Sermon X. The Best Bargain: A Sermon Preached to the Court at Theobald’s on Sunday, September 21, 1623”, in Philip Wynter, editor, The Works of the Right Reverend...
Noun (1)
fard (countable and uncountable, plural fards)
- Colour or paint, especially white paint, used on the face; makeup, war-paint.
- And theſe [including Edward Gibbon] preſent us with the ſkeleton of hiſtory, not merely clothed with muſcles, animated with life, and bearing the bloom of health upon its cheek; but, inſtead of carrying a higher fluſh of health upon its cheek, and ſhewing a brighter beam of life in its eyes, rubbed...1791, John Whitaker, chapter I, in Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in Vols. IV, V, and VI, Quarto, Reviewed, London: Printed for J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, page 4
- [Y]et, that your Majesty may not be abused, and that you may see that there is nothing but fard in that which may seem fairest of all their proceedings, I conceive myself obliged in duty and honour to undervalue all their malice, and truly to inform your Majesty in what you are, and may be, so much...1856, Mark Napier, quoting James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, chapter XXXIII, in The Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose, volume II, Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson, […]; London: Hamilton, Adams &...
Noun (2)
fard (plural fards)
- A commandment from Allah that a Muslim has to fulfill; a religious duty or obligation.
- It is suggested that the child pray only the fardrak'ats at this stage. He can keep adding the sunnah rak'ats from the time he has all the fards completed—that is, from his seventh birthday—so that by age ten he has the entire salat, fards and sunnahs, complete.1995, Norma Tarazi, Zeba Siddiqui, “Islamic Practices, Manners, and Values”, in The Child in Islam: A Muslim Parent’s Handbook, Plainfield, Ind.: American Trust Publications, →ISBN, page 132
Adjective
fard (not comparable)
- Required as a matter of religious duty or obligation.
- The second fundamental of Islam is "to perform the ritual prayer (namâz, salât) [five times a day in accordance with its conditions and fards] when the time for prayer comes." It is fard for every Muslim to perform salât five times every day after each time of salât starts and to know that he or...1993, Mawlânâ Diyâ’ Ad-dîn Khâlid, “Introduction”, in Belief and Islam (Hakîkat Kitâbevi Publications; no. 8), Istanbul: Hakîkat Kitâbevi, →OCLC
Noun (3)
fard (plural fards)
Also used as
fard is also the alternative form of ferd.
fard meaning in Gujarati and Malay
fard in Gujarati
- commandment from Allah that a Muslim has to fulfil
- ફર્જ pharj, ફર્ઝ pharjh, ફરજ pharaj
fard in Malay
- commandment from Allah that a Muslim has to fulfil
- fardu
Examples of fard in a sentence
- It scorneth to woo favour with farding and licking and counterfeisance.1623 September 21, Joseph Hall, “Sermon X. The Best Bargain: A Sermon Preached to the Court at Theobald’s on Sunday, September 21, 1623”...
- [Y]e handle this matter too tenderly, nor will my conscience permit me to fard or daub over the causes of divine wrath […]1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh...
- [page 141] Various other paints, or what the French commonly denominate fards, are chiefly made for theatrical use; but they are, nevertheless, extensively used by private individuals.1862 February, “Cosmetics”, in William B. Dana, editor, The Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review, volume XLVI, number II, New York...
Forms of fard
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | fards |
| present participle | farding |
| past participle | farded |
| past | farded |
| Noun | |
| plural | fards |
| alternative form | faird |
| alternative form | Scotland |
| alternative form | feard |
Origin of fard
The verb is derived from Middle English farden (“to apply cosmetics”) or Middle French farder, from Old French farder (“to make up or paint the face; to disguise; to represent in a false light”), from Frankish *farwidōn (“to colour, dye”), from Proto-Germanic *farwiþōną (“to colour”), from *farwō (“colour”), from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“coloured; motley”). The word is cognate with Icelandic farða, Latin pulcher (“beautiful”), Old High German farwjan (“to colour”) (modern German Farbe (“colour”)), Middle Low German varwe (“colour”) (Low German Farwe (“colour”)), Welsh erch (“dark brown”). The noun derived is from French fard (“cosmetics, make-up”), from Old French fart (“cosmetics, make-up”) (masculine) (farde (feminine)); further etymology is uncertain, but a possible derivation is from Old High German gifarwit (“coloured, painted”), past participle of farwjan (“to colour”), from Proto-West Germanic *faru (related to the verb).
Borrowed from Arabic فَرْض (farḍ, “religious duty”), from فَرَضَ (faraḍa, “to ordain, make obligatory, specify”).
Words that rhyme with fard
Questions about fard
- What does fard mean?
- Fard means to paint, as the cheeks or face.
- What is fard in Gujarati?
- Fard in Gujarati is ફર્જ (pharj), ફર્ઝ (pharjh), ફરજ (pharaj). See Fard meaning in Gujarati.
- How do you use fard in a sentence?
- It scorneth to woo favour with farding and licking and counterfeisance.
- What part of speech is fard?
- Fard can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce fard?
- Fard is pronounced /fɑːd/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of fard?
- The past tense of fard is farded.
Words near fard in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fard (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fard.wav.
Cite this entry: “fard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.