word hypocrisy comes from the Greek ????????? (hypokrisis), which means "jealous", "play-acting", "acting out", "coward" or "dissembling". The word hypocrite is from the Greek word ????????? (hypokrites), the agentive noun associated with ????????u?? (hypokrinomai ?????, "judgment" »??????? (kritike), "critics") presumably because the performance of a dramatic text by an actor was to involve a degree of interpretation, or assessment.

Alternatively, the word is