Short answers, pulled from the story.
In fifth century BC Athens, a sycophant was a private citizen who brought unjustified prosecutions to gain profit or blackmail defendants into paying bribes. These accusers had no personal stake in the dispute yet used their education and skill to destroy opponents.
Plutarch suggested the source lay in laws forbidding the exportation of figs, making those who accused others of illegal exportation called sycophants. Blackstone's Commentaries added that breaking into gardens to steal figs was a capital offense, so informers received the name due to the odious nature of the law.
The word entered English and French languages during the mid-16th century with its original meaning intact. Greek and French retained the definition of false accuser or professional informer throughout history before Modern English shifted the term to describe an insincere flatterer seeking advantage from superiors.
Athenian authorities imposed fines on litigants who failed to obtain at least one fifth of the jury's votes during trials. Additional penalties applied when cases were abandoned after beginning, often because bribes had been paid to drop the matter.
In April 2025 OpenAI rolled back an update to its GPT‑4o model after reports emerged about excessively flattering responses. Researchers developed measurement methods like the study SycEval to quantify sycophantic behavior across commercial models.