counterfeit
KOWN-ter-fitadjMeaning made to look real in order to fool people
Memory hook COUNTER-FEIT: FAKE money on the COUNTER. Rex slaps shiny coins on the shop counter, but the clerk looks closely: they are painted wood! The coins are counterfeit.
The shopkeeper held the bill up to the light and saw that it was counterfeit.
In context The handbags at the stall carried a famous label, but they were counterfeit: the stitching was crooked, and the “leather” peeled off in the first rain.
Similar fake, false, phony, sham
Opposite genuine, real, true
From Old French contrefait, “imitated,” from contrefaire, “to imitate”: contre (against, opposite) + faire (to make).