{{Short description|Insincere flattery, once meant a false accuser}} {{Distinguish|Psychopathy}} {{Redirect|Toady|other uses|Toadie (disambiguation){{!}}Toadie}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} [[File:Frivolous Fables fox and raven.gif|thumb|Illustration by Peter Newell for the poem "The Sycophantic Fox and the Gullible Raven" in ''Fables for the Frivolous'', by Guy Wetmore Carryl; in French, the fox says "I admire your beautiful plumage" to the raven]] In modern English, '''sycophant''' denotes an insincere flatterer and refers to someone practising '''sycophancy''' (i.e., insincere flattery to gain an advantage).
The word has its origin in the legal system of Classical Athens, where it had a different meaning. Most legal cases of the time were brought by private litigants, as there was no police force and a limited number of appointed public prosecutors. By the fifth century BC, this practice had given rise to abuse by ''sycophants'': litigants who brought unjustified prosecutions.<ref name="MacDowell">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=92_Nz8jjrSUC&pg=PA63 |last= MacDowell |first= Douglas M. |title= The Law in Classical Athens |location= Ithaca, NY |publisher= Cornell University Press |year= 1986 |isbn= 978-0-80149365-2 |pages= 62–66 |via= Google Books}}</ref> The word retains the same meaning ('slanderer') in Modern Greek,<ref>{{cite web |title=συκοφάντης - Ελληνοαγγλικό Λεξικό |url=https://www.wordreference.com/gren/%CF%83%CF%85%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%86%CE%AC%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82 |website=WordReference.com }}</ref> French (where {{Interlanguage link|sycophant|fr|Sycophante}} means 'false accuser', or professional 'informer'), and Italian. In modern English, the meaning of the word has shifted to mean flattery.
==Etymology== The origin of the Ancient Greek word {{Lang|grc|συκοφάντης}} ({{Lang|grc-latn|sykophántēs}}) is a matter of debate, but it was meant to disparage unjustified accusers who in some way perverted the legal system.<ref name="MacDowell" />
The original etymology of the word ({{Lang|grc-latn|sykos}}''/''{{Lang|grc|συκος}} 'fig', and {{Lang|grc-latn|phanēs}}''/''{{Lang|grc|φανης}} 'to show'; 'revealer of figs') has been the subject of extensive scholarly speculation and conjecture. Plutarch appears to be the first to have suggested that the source of the term was in laws forbidding the exportation of figs, and that those who leveled the accusation against another of illegally exporting figs were therefore called sycophants. Athenaeus provided a similar explanation. Blackstone's ''Commentaries'' repeats this story, but adds an additional take—that there were laws making it a capital offense to break into a garden and steal figs, and that the law was so odious that informers were given the name sycophants.
A different explanation of the origin of the term by Shadwell was that the sycophant refers to the manner in which figs are harvested, by shaking the tree and revealing the fruit hidden among the leaves. The sycophant, by making false accusations, makes the accused yield up their fruit. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition listed these and other explanations, including that the making of false accusations was an insult to the accused in the nature of showing the fig, an "obscene gesture of phallic significance" or, alternatively that the false charges were often so insubstantial as to not amount to the worth of a fig.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Sycophant | volume= 26 | pages = 276–277 }}</ref>
Generally, scholars have dismissed these explanations as inventions, long after the original meaning had been lost.<ref name="Henkle">{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81gcAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA49 |last=Henkle |first=W. D. |title=That is a Sycophant? |journal=The National Teacher |volume=3 |issue=3 |date=February 1873 |pages=46–50 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Allen" /> Danielle Allen suggests that the term was "slightly obscene", connoting a kind of perversion, and may have had a web of meanings derived from the symbolism of figs in ancient Greek culture, ranging from the improper display of one's "figs" by being overly aggressive in pursuing a prosecution, the unseemly revealing of the private matters of those accused of wrongdoing, to the inappropriate timing of harvesting figs when they are unripe.<ref name="Allen" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=Danielle |title=Me, Tucker Carlson and the danger to democracy posed by false allegations |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/12/danielle-allen-tucker-carlson-danger-democracy-posed-by-false-allegations |access-date=12 November 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=12 November 2020}}</ref>
==In Athenian culture== [[File:Parc de Versailles, Rond-Point des Philosophes, Lysias, Jean Dedieu inv1850n°9452 03.jpg|upright|thumb|Lysias, by the French sculptor Jean Dedieu ({{Circa|1645}}–1727)]] The traditional view is that the opprobrium against sycophants was attached to the bringing of an unjustified complaint, hoping either to obtain the payment for a successful case, or to blackmail the defendant into paying a bribe to drop it.<ref name="MacDowell" /> Other scholars have suggested that the sycophant, rather than being disparaged for being motivated by profit, was instead viewed as a vexatious litigant who was over-eager to prosecute, and who had no personal stake in the underlying dispute, but brought up old charges unrelated to himself long after the event.<ref name="Allen">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lKW3yiINadEC&q=sycophant |last= Allen |first=Danielle S. |title=The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780691094892 |pages=156–164 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Sycophants included those who profited from using their position as citizens for profit. For instance, a sycophant could be hired to bring a charge against one's enemies, or to take a wide variety of actions of an official nature with the authorities, including introducing decrees, acting as an advocate or a witness, bribing ecclesiastical or civil authorities and juries, or other things that one did not want to be personally associated with.<ref name="Apollodorus">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hze0Bw5tGCEC&pg=PA255 |author= Apollodorus |editor-last= Kapparis |editor-first= K.A |title= Against Nearia |location= Berlin |publisher= Walter de Gruyter |year= 1999 |isbn= 9783110163902 |pages= 255–256 |via= Google Books}}</ref> Sycophants were viewed as uncontrolled and parasitic, lacking proper regard for truth or justice in a matter, using their education and skill to destroy opponents for profit in matters where they had no stake, lacking even the convictions of politicians, and having no sense of serving the public good.<ref name=Ober>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J-R6gaH61pkC&pg=PA174 |last= Ober |first= Josiah |title= Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens |publisher= Princeton University Press |year= 2009 |isbn= 9781400820511 |pages= 173–174 |via= Google Books}}</ref>
===Orations=== The charge of sycophancy against a litigant was a serious matter. The authors of two surviving oratories, "Against the Grain Dealers" by Lysias and "Against Leocrates" by Lycurgus, defend themselves against charges that they are sycophants because they are prosecuting cases as private citizens in circumstances where they have no personal stake in the underlying dispute. In each instance, the lack of personal involvement appears to have been the crux of the accusation of sycophancy against them, the merits of the cases being separate matters from whether they had a right to bring them.<ref name="Allen" />
===Measures to suppress sycophants=== Efforts were made to discourage or suppress sycophants, including imposing fines on litigants who failed to obtain at least one fifth of the jury's votes, or for abandoning a case after it had begun (as would occur if the sycophant was bribed to drop the matter), and authorizing the prosecution of men for being sycophants.<ref name="MacDowell" /> Statutes of limitation were specifically adopted to try to prevent sycophancy.<ref name="Allen" />
===Satire=== Several of Aristophanes' comedies feature sycophants as major characters. In ''The Acharnians'', a Megarian attempting to sell his daughters is confronted by a sycophant who accuses him of illegally attempting to sell foreign goods; and a Boeotian purchases a sycophant as a typical Athenian product that he cannot obtain at home. A sycophant appears as a character in ''The Birds''. In ''Plutus'', the character, Sycophant, defends his role as a necessity in supporting the laws and preventing wrongdoing.<ref name="MacDowell" />
==Christianity== Suda mention that one of the epithets of the devil is Sycophant (Συκοφάντης; "false accuser"), for he falsely accused God when he claimed that God had prevented them from partaking of the tree, and he also spoke against Job.<ref>[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/sigma/1332 Suda, sigma, 1332]</ref>
==Modern Greek== In daily use, the term {{Lang|el|συκοφάντης}} refers to someone that purposely spreads lies about a person, in order to harm their reputation or otherwise insult their honor (i.e. a slanderer), and {{Lang|el|συκοφαντία}} is doing so (i.e. slander, n., to slander: {{Lang|el|συκοφαντώ}}).
In legal terms, Article 362 of the Greek Penal Code defines defamation ({{Lang|el|δυσφήμηση}}) "whoever who with in any way claims or spreads for someone else a fact that could harm that person's honor or reputation",<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.c00.org/2015/03/greek-penal-code-article-363.html |title=Ποινικός Κώδικας - Άρθρο 363 |website=www.c00.org |language=el |access-date=14 December 2022 |archive-date=4 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304053955/http://www.c00.org/2015/03/greek-penal-code-article-363.html |url-status=live }}</ref> whereas slanderous defamation ({{Lang|el|συκοφαντική δυσφήμηση}}) is when the fact is a lie, and the person who claims or spreads it knows that.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.c00.org/2015/03/greek-penal-code-article-362.html |title=Ποινικός Κώδικας - Άρθρο 362 |website=www.c00.org |language=el |access-date=14 December 2022}}</ref> The first case is punishable with up to two years' imprisonment or a fine, whereas slanderous defamation is punishable with at least three months' imprisonment and a fine. [[File:Fred Barnard07.jpg|thumb|upright|Uriah Heep, from Charles Dickens' ''David Copperfield'', is synonymous with sycophancy.]]
==Shift in meaning in modern English== The word ''sycophant'' entered the English and French languages in the mid-16th century, and originally had the same meaning in English and French as in Greek, a false accuser. Today, in Greek and French, it retains the original meaning.<ref name="CNRTL">{{cite web |url=http://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/sycophante |title= Sycophante |trans-title=Sycophant |publisher=Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales |year=2012 |language=fr |access-date=4 July 2013}}</ref>
The meaning in English has changed over time, however, and came to mean an insincere flatterer. The common thread in the older and current meanings is that the sycophant is, in both instances, portrayed as a kind of parasite, speaking falsely and insincerely in the accusation or the flattery for gain. The Greek plays often combined in one single character the elements of the parasite and the sycophant, and the natural similarities of the two closely related types led to the shift in the meaning of the word.<ref name="Lofberg">{{cite journal |last1=Lofberg |first1=J. O. |title=The Sycophant-Parasite |journal=Classical Philology |date=1920 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=61–72 |jstor=263545 |doi=10.1086/360265 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The sycophant in both meanings can also be viewed as two sides of the same coin: the same person currying one's favor by insincere flattery is also spreading false tales and accusations behind one's back.<ref name="Trench">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mao3AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA327 |last= Trench |first= Richard Chenevix |title= English Past and Present |others= Revised and in part rewritten by A. L. Mayhew |location= London |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Company |year= 1903 |pages= 327–328 |via= Google Books}}</ref>
In Renaissance English, the word was used in both senses and meanings: that of the Greek informer and the current sense of a "flattering parasite", with both being cast as enemies—not only of those they wrong, but also of the person or state they ostensibly serve.<ref name="Elizabeth">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KSlwqK4N9ygC&pg=PA378 |author=Elizabeth I |editor1-last=Mueller |editor1-first=Janel |editor2-last=Scodel |editor2-first=Joshua |name-list-style=amp |title=Elizabeth I: Translations 1592–1598 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780226201368 |page=378 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
==AI sycophancy{{anchor|LLM sycophancy|Chatbots}}== {{Main|Sycophancy (artificial intelligence)}} With the rise of large language models, the term sycophancy has entered discussions about artificial intelligence (AI). '''AI sycophancy''' describes a pattern in which a model systematically affirms, flatters, or agrees with a user instead of reasoning independently, critically, or factually. This "yes‑man" behaviour can lead to the unwarranted confirmation of false claims, undermine reliable information provision, and increase user confidence in incorrect answers (see AI hallucination). Studies have shown AI models are more than 50% more sycophantic than humans.<ref>{{cite arXiv |last1=Cheng |first1=Myra |title=Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence |date=2025-10-01 |eprint=2510.01395 |last2=Lee |first2=Cinoo |last3=Khadpe |first3=Pranav |last4=Yu |first4=Sunny |last5=Han |first5=Dyllan |last6=Jurafsky |first6=Dan |class=cs.CY }}</ref>
In April 2025 OpenAI rolled back an update to its GPT‑4o model after users and researchers reported that the model produced excessively affirming and flattering responses; OpenAI published an explanation of the cause and described planned adjustments to model personality and feedback handling.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://openai.com/index/sycophancy-in-gpt-4o/ |title=Sycophancy in GPT-4o: what happened and what we're doing about it |publisher=OpenAI |date=29 April 2025 |access-date=15 January 2026 |archive-date=14 January 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260114145608/https://openai.com/index/sycophancy-in-gpt-4o/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/04/openai-rolls-back-update-that-made-chatgpt-a-sycophantic-mess/ |title=OpenAI rolls back update that made ChatGPT a sycophantic mess |publisher=Ars Technica |date=29 April 2025 |access-date=15 January 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/openai-rolls-back-update-that-made-chatgpt-too-sycophant-y/ |title=OpenAI rolls back update that made ChatGPT 'too sycophant-y' |publisher=TechCrunch |date=29 April 2025 |access-date=15 January 2026}}</ref>
Researchers have since developed measurement methods and benchmarks to quantify sycophantic behavior; one example is the study SycEval, which describes a framework and datasets for evaluating sycophancy across multiple commercial models and reports that sycophantic behaviour occurs in a substantial portion of tested cases.<ref>{{cite arXiv |last1=Fanous |first1=Aaron |last2=Goldberg |first2=Jacob |last3=Agarwal |first3=Ank A. |last4=Lin |first4=Joanna |last5=Zhou |first5=Anson |last6=Daneshjou |first6=Roxana |last7=Koyejo |first7=Sanmi |title=SycEval: Evaluating LLM Sycophancy |date=2025 |class=cs.AI |eprint=2502.08177 }}</ref> Such studies highlight risks in domains such as education, medicine and professional decision‑making when models prioritize user affirmation over independent verification.
There has been public and legal attention to cases in which conversations with chatbots may have reinforced harmful behavior. In the United States, families have filed lawsuits alleging that sycophancy and prolonged interactions with language models played a role in self‑harm or suicide.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/family-teenager-died-suicide-alleges-openais-chatgpt-blame-rcna226147 |title=The family of teenager who died by suicide alleges OpenAI's ChatGPT is to blame |date=26 August 2025 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=15 January 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/26/the-family-of-teenager-who-died-by-suicide-alleges-openais-chatgpt-is-to-blame.html |title=Family alleges ChatGPT played role in teen's suicide |date=26 August 2025 |publisher=CNBC |access-date=15 January 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://abc7.com/post/parents-orange-county-teen-adam-raine-sue-openai-claiming-chatgpt-helped-son-die-suicide/17664420/ |title=Parents of Orange County teen Adam Raine sue OpenAI, claiming ChatGPT helped their son die by suicide |date=27 August 2025 |publisher=ABC7 Los Angeles |access-date=15 January 2026}}</ref>
==Related expressions== [[File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII - WGA02854.jpg|thumb|right|Botticelli's illustration of Dante's Inferno shows insincere flatterers grovelling in excrement in the second pit of the eighth circle.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cheney |first1=Liana De Girolami |title=Dante's Infemo: Renaissance Illustrations |journal=Italian Culture |date=January 1997 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=35–90 |doi=10.1179/itc.1997.15.1.35 }}</ref>]] Sycophancy<ref name="Soc">{{citation | title=Grovelling and other vices: the sociology of sycophancy |author=Alphons Silbermann |translator=Ladislaus Loeb |year=2000 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-485-11544-4}}</ref> is insincere flattery given to gain advantage from a superior.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Van Hook |first1=LaRue |title=Review of Sycophancy in Athens |journal=The Classical Weekly |date=1919 |volume=12 |issue=16 |pages=127–128 |doi=10.2307/4387779 |jstor=4387779 }}</ref> A user of sycophancy is referred to as a sycophant or a ''yes-man''.
Alternative phrases are often used, such as: {{columns-list|colwidth=15em| * apple-polishing * ass/arse kissing * ass/arse licking * bootlicker * brown nosing * crawler * fawning * flunky * glazing * grovelling * hanger-on * kowtowing * lickspittle * meatriding * simping * sucking up * toady * yes man }}
==See also== {{columns-list|colwidth=18em| * Authoritarian personality * Codependency * Class traitor * Enabling * Henchman * Lackey * Minion * Narcissistic supply * Sidekick * Suck up kick down * Waylon Smithers }}
==Further reading== * {{cite arXiv |last1=Cheng |first1=Myra |last2=Lee |first2=Cinoo |last3=Khadpe |first3=Pranav |last4=Yu |first4=Sunny |last5=Han |first5=Dyllan |last6=Jurafsky |first6=Dan |title=Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence |date=2025 |class=cs.CY |eprint=2510.01395 }} * {{cite journal |last=Clark |first=L. P. |title=A Psychological Study of Sycophancy |journal=Psychoanalytic Review |volume=21 |pages=15–39 |year=1934 }} * {{cite book |last=Lofberg |first=John Oscar |title=Sycophancy in Athens |year=2008 |location=Whitefish |publisher=Kessinger |isbn=978-1-4304-9346-4 |orig-year=1917 |edition=Reprint }} * {{cite journal |last1=Naddaf |first1=Miryam |title=AI chatbots are sycophants — researchers say it's harming science |journal=Nature |date=2025 |volume=647 |issue=8088 |pages=13–14 |doi=10.1038/d41586-025-03390-0 |pmid=41136779 }} * {{cite news |last1=Sample |first1=Ian |title='Sycophantic' AI chatbots tell users what they want to hear, study shows |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/24/sycophantic-ai-chatbots-tell-users-what-they-want-to-hear-study-shows |work=The Guardian |date=24 October 2025 }} * {{cite journal |last=Sussman |first=Lyle |title=Sex and sycophancy: Communication strategies for ascendance in same-sex and mixed-sex superior-subordinate dyads |journal=Sex Roles |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=113–127 |year=1980 |doi=10.1007/bf00288366 }}
==References== {{Reflist|25em}}
==External links== {{Wiktionary-inline}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Etymologies Category:Classical Athens Category:Greek words and phrases Category:Interpersonal relationships Category:Human behavior Category:Harassment and bullying Category:Ancient Greece