dupe

See also: dupé, dupę, dúpě, and düpe

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation)
  • (yod-coalescence) IPA^(key): /dʒuːp/
  • (without the yod-coalescence) IPA^(key): /djuːp/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /duːp/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uːp
• Hyphenation: dupe

Etymology 1

From French duper, from Middle French duppe, alteration of huppe (“hoopoe”), from Latin, onomatopoeic.

Noun

dupe (plural dupes)

1. A person who has been deceived.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dupe

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 55, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     It would vex me, indeed, to see you again the dupe of Miss Bingley's pretended regard.

   • 1991 August 31, Sonia de Vries, “The Real Enemies Of Humanity Are Here At Home”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 7, page 4:

     I am responding to Allen Young's letter to the editor concerning two articles I wrote for GCN about my experiences in Cuba. The gist of Mr. Young's letter is that I am a commie dupe and the Cubans who shared there opinions and experiences with me were simply lying.

Related terms

• dupery

Translations

deceived person

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: лековерник m (lekovernik), будала (bg) m (budala) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Czech: napálený m, oklamaný m, podvedený m Dutch: gedupeerde (nl) m or f, bedrogene (nl) m or f Esperanto: trompito, trompato, dupo Finnish: houkka (fi) Galician: incauto Greek: κορόιδο (el) n (koróido), αγαθιάρης (el) m (agathiáris) Hebrew: פראייר (he) m (frayer) Hungarian: balek (hu), palimadár (hu) Ido: dupo (io) Polish: naiwniak (pl) m, naiwniaczka (pl) f, naiwniaczek (pl) m Portuguese: ludibriado (pt) m Russian: простофи́ля (ru) m or f (prostofílja), несообрази́тельный челове́к m (nesoobrazítelʹnyj čelovék), жертва́ обма́на f (žertvá obmána), (partly) легкове́рный челове́к m (lexkovérnyj čelovék), фра́ер (ru) m (frájer) (slang), дурачок (ru) (duračok), лох (ru) m (lox) Spanish: incauto (es), engrupido (es), engañado (es) m Turkish: keriz (tr) Yiddish: יאָלד m (yold)

Verb

dupe (third-person singular simple present dupes, present participle duping, simple past and past participle duped)

1. To swindle, deceive, or trick.

Derived terms

• dupability
• dupable
• undupe

Translations

to swindle, deceive, or trick

Afrikaans: bedrieg (af) Arabic: يخدع Bulgarian: мамя (bg) (mamja), измамвам (bg) (izmamvam) Catalan: enganyar (ca), estafar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 欺騙 / 欺骗 (zh) (qīpiàn), 騙 / 骗 (zh) (piàn) Czech: oklamat (cs), napálit (cs) Dutch: duperen (nl), belazeren (nl) Esperanto: trompi, dupi Finnish: puijata (fi), höynäyttää (fi), narrata (fi) French: duper (fr) Galician: enfoumar (gl), enganar (gl) German: überlisten (de), übertölpeln (de) Greek: κοροϊδεύω (el) (koroïdévo), εξαπατώ (el) (exapató) Hungarian: rászed (hu), becsap (hu), átvág (hu), palira vesz Ido: dupigar (io) Indonesian: menipu (id), mengakali (id), membodohi (id), memperdaya (id) Italian: imbrogliare (it), truffare (it) Japanese: 騙す (ja) (だます, damasu) Latin: dolum facio, fraudo Norwegian: dupere Polish: oszukiwać (pl) impf, oszukać (pl) pf, nabierać (pl) impf, nabrać (pl) pf Portuguese: enganar (pt), defraudar (pt) Russian: обма́нывать (ru) impf (obmányvatʹ), одура́чивать (ru) impf (oduráčivatʹ), вводи́ть в заблужде́ние (ru) impf (vvodítʹ v zabluždénije), (partly) ловчи́ть (ru) impf (lovčítʹ), (informal) надува́ть (ru) impf (naduvátʹ), (informal) разводи́ть (ru) impf (razvodítʹ), (informal) кида́ть (ru) impf (kidátʹ) Slovak: podviesť, oklamať Spanish: engañar (es) Swedish: dupera (sv), lura (sv) Turkish: aldatmak (tr), kandırmak (tr), keklemek (slang), söğüşlemek (tr) (slang), kerizlemek Vietnamese: lừa gạt (vi)

Etymology 2

Clipping of duplicate.

Noun

dupe (plural dupes)

1. (informal) A duplicate. Often:
   1. (photography) A duplicate of a photographic image.
   2. (video games) An in-game item that has been duplicated.
   3. (food service, hospitality) A duplicate of an order receipt printed for kitchen staff.
   4. (informal, TikTok) A counterfeit; a fake.
      • 2020 March 1, Megan Graham, “TikTok teens are obsessed with fake luxury products”, in CNBC‎:

        TikTok could potentially be liable if lots of users are directing other users to the sales of dupes, she said, and she said if users have an affiliate relationship with the sellers of counterfeit goods, they could also potentially be liable.

   5. (informal, by extension) A cheap consumer product intended to imitate a more expensive product.
      • 2023 February 21, Daisy Lester, “Revolution has launched a £10 alternative to Charlotte Tilbury’s £65 magic serum”, in The Independent‎:

        The dupe lived up to expectation in our head-to-head review, where we concluded that Revolution’s affordable formula is a “perfectly worthy alternative that won’t see you digging too deep into your pocket.”

      • 2025 August 6, Julie Creswell, “Aldi’s Passionate, Cultlike Following Fuels Its Rapid Expansion Plans”, in The New York Times‎:

        And many shoppers go to Aldi for its so-called dupes of more expensive, big-brand foods and beverages.

Derived terms

• dedupe
• slash dupe

Translations

a duplicate — see duplicate,‎ counterfeit,‎ fake,‎ clone

Verb

dupe (third-person singular simple present dupes, present participle duping, simple past and past participle duped)

1. (transitive) To duplicate.

   Synonyms: double; see also Thesaurus:duplicate

   Antonyms: dedupe, halve

   Can you dupe this photo for me?

   • 2018, Richard Powers, The Overstory, Vintage (2019), page 379:

     That night, a shaken camera operator dupes the tape and leaks a copy to the press.

Anagrams

• E'd up, pued

Bube

Noun

dupe

1. ghost

Descendants

• English: duppy

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French dupe, from Middle French [Term?].

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈdypə/
• Hyphenation: du‧pe

Noun

dupe m (plural dupes)

1. victim

   Synonym: slachtoffer

Related terms

• duperen

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dyp/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): [dzʏp]
• Rhymes: -yp

Noun

dupe f (plural dupes)

1. a person who has been deceived

   être dupe ― to be taken in, be fooled, be duped

Usage notes

• A negative polarity item, very often found in the construction ne pas être dupe.

Verb

dupe

1. inflection of duper:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “dupe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *dupę.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dûpe/

Noun

dȕpe n (Cyrillic spelling ду̏пе, diminutive dupénce)

1. (mildly vulgar) ass

   Synonym: gùzica

   Imaš l(ij)epo dupe. ― You have a nice ass.

2. (mildly vulgar, derogatory) ass, jerk, dipshit; an annoying, contemptible, obnoxious person

Usage notes

May be construed as endearing rather than vulgar when used by a romantic couple.

Declension

Declension of dupe

	singular	plural
nominative	dȕpe	dupèta
genitive	dȕpeta	dupétā
dative	dupetu	dupetima
accusative	dupe	dupeta
vocative	dupe	dupeta
locative	dupetu	dupetima
instrumental	dupetom	dupetima

Further reading

• “dupe”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

West Makian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd̪u.pe/

Verb

dupe

1. (transitive) to throw away
2. (transitive) to drop (an anchor)

Conjugation

Conjugation of dupe (action verb)

		singular	plural
			inclusive	exclusive
1st person		todupe	modupe	adupe
2nd person		nodupe	fodupe
3rd person	inanimate	idupe	dodupe
	animate
imperative		nudupe, dupe	fudupe, dupe

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982), The Makian languages and their neighbours‎, Pacific linguistics