fun
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See also: Appendix:Variations of "fun"
Etymology
From Middle English fonne, fon (“foolish, simple, silly”) or fonnen (“make a fool of”), from Middle English fonne (“a fool, dupe”), probably of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish fånig (“foolish”), Swedish fåne (“a fool”), from Old Norse fáni (“vain person, swaggerer”), but of unknown ultimate origin. Perhaps related to or influenced by fjäll (“rock, cliff, mountain”).[1] Compare also English fumble, Norwegian Nynorsk fomme (“clumsy fool”).
Compare also Norwegian fomme, fume (“a fool”). More at fon, fond.
As a noun, fun is recorded from 1700, with a meaning “a cheat, trick, hoax”, from a verb fun meaning “to cheat, trick” (1680s). The meaning “diversion, amusement” dates to the 1720s. The older meaning is preserved in the phrase to make fun of (1737) and in usage of the adjective funny. The use of fun as adjective is newest and is due to reanalysis of the noun; this was incipient in the mid-19th century.
Alternative etymology connected Middle English fonne with Old Frisian fonna, fone, fomne, variant forms of fāmne, fēmne (“young woman, virgin”), from Proto-West Germanic *faimnijā, from Proto-Germanic *faimnijǭ (“maiden”), from Proto-Indo-European *peymen- (“girl”), *poymen- (“breast milk”). If so, then cognate with Old English fǣmne (“maid, virgin, damsel, bride”), West Frisian famke (“girl”), Saterland Frisian fone, fon (“woman, maid, servant," also "weakling, simpleton”).
Pronunciation
Noun
fun (uncountable)
- Amusement, enjoyment or pleasure.
- 2000, Robert Stanley, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adobe Photoshop 6, Alpha Books, page 377:
- Grafting your boss's face onto the hind end of a donkey is fun, but serious fun is when you create the impossible and it looks real.
- Playful, often noisy, activity.
- Synonyms: boisterousness, horseplay, rough and tumble
Derived terms
With prefixes
With suffixes
Blends
Terms derived from fun (noun), with this term at the beginning
Terms derived from fun (noun), with this term in the middle or at the end
Translations
enjoyment or amusement
|
playful, often noisy, activity
|
Adjective
fun (comparative more fun or (informal) funner, superlative most fun or (informal) funnest)
- Enjoyable or amusing.
- We had a fun time at the party.
- He is such a fun person to be with.
- 2016 January 11, Tom Bateman, quoted in Nigel Hunt, "Jekyll and Hyde, TV revamp of Robert Louis Stevenson classic, debuts on CBC-TV" CBC News, Canada:
- He's the liberated character that everyone wants to be, so he was very fun to play
- (informal) Whimsical or flamboyant.
- This year's fashion style is much more fun than recent seasons.
Derived terms
Translations
enjoyable, amusing
|
Verb
fun (third-person singular simple present funs, present participle funning, simple past and past participle funned)
- (colloquial) To tease, kid, poke fun at, make fun of.
- Hey, don't get bent out of shape over it; I was just funning you.
Translations
See also
etymologically unrelated multiword terms containing "fun"
References
Anagrams
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