word history: A sycophant was originally an informer, which is the meaning of the original Greek word sukophantēs. This was formed, oddly, from sukon ‘fig’ and phainein ‘to show’. One theory for this connects the word to people who informed against those exporting figs from ancient Athens, which was illegal. Another suggests it derives from the insulting gesture known as the fig, made by thrusting the thumb between two closed fingers; the informer was effectively ‘giving the fig’ to the criminals he informed against.