canard

< /kəˈnɑrdz; French kaˈnar/.

1. a false or baseless, usually derogatory story, report, or rumor.
2. Cookery. a duck intended or used for food.
3. Aeronautics.
   1. an airplane that has its horizontal stabilizer and elevators located forward of the wing.
   2. Also called canard wing.one of two small lifting wings located in front of the main wings.
   3. an early airplane having a pusher engine with the rudder and elevator assembly in front of the wings.

noun

1. a false report; rumour or hoax
2. an aircraft in which the tailplane is mounted in front of the wing

n.

before 1850, from French canard “a hoax,” literally “a duck” (from Old French quanart, probably echoic of a duck’s quack); said by Littré to be from the phrase vendre un canard à moitié “to half-sell a duck,” thus, from some long-forgotten joke, “to cheat.”