figment

/ˈfɪgmənt/

/ˈfɪgmənt/

Other forms: figments

When something is a figment of your imagination, it means that you made it up. It's something that might seem real, but is really not.

What does a fig- (not the fruit fig) have to do with something made up inside your head? It has to do with Latin, as usual — both figment and fiction derive from the same Latin word. But it might help to think of figment as a fig leaf — a figment is something flimsy and easily blown away.

Definitions of figment

1. noun

   a contrived or fantastic idea
   “a figment of the imagination”

   type of:

   idea, thought

   the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about