feign

Compared meaning: to pretend to feel or have something (verb).

比较义项：假装（具有某种感觉或态度）（动词）。

• pretend

  The everyday, general word for any false appearance — used for actions, games, or feelings alike (pretend to be, pretend that); fits casual conversation and children's play.

  最日常、最通用的词，可用于任何假装的情况——动作、游戏或感觉皆可（pretend to be、pretend that），适合口语及儿童游戏场景。

  The kids pretend to be superheroes and run around the yard for hours.

  孩子们假装自己是超级英雄，在院子里跑来跑去玩上好几个小时。

• affect

  Often describes putting on a manner or emotional air to impress others or seem a certain way (affect an air of calm), implying insincerity; more formal and literary than pretend.

  常指故意摆出某种情绪或姿态以给人留下某种印象（如affect an air of calm），暗示不真诚；比pretend更正式、书面化。

  He affected an air of calm before the interview, though his hands were shaking.

  面试前他刻意摆出一副镇定的样子，尽管他的双手在发抖。

• feign 本词

  Formal and literary; strongly associated with fixed phrases like feign interest, feign illness, feign ignorance, suggesting a convincing, deliberate deception.

  书面、正式；常见于feign interest、feign illness、feign ignorance等固定搭配，强调刻意而逼真的欺骗表演。

  He feigned interest in her vacation stories, nodding along without really listening.

  他假装对她的旅行故事感兴趣，一边点头一边其实并没有真正在听。

Pretend, affect, and feign all mean to fake a feeling. Pretend is the common, general word for any false appearance. Affect and feign are more formal: affect means acting a manner to impress; feign means a convincing, deliberate deception. Affect also means 'influence'; not compared.

这三个词在“假装（某种感觉）”这个意义上很接近，但语体和搭配不同：pretend最口语化、适用范围最广，feign和affect更正式、书面化，feign强调逼真的欺骗表演，affect强调刻意摆出某种姿态给人留下印象。这里不比较affect的常见义项“影响”（如影响心情），也不比较pretend“冒称、觊觎（王位等）”的义项。