fun

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word fun. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word fun, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say fun in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word fun you have here. The definition of the word fun will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition offun, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Appendix:Variations of "fun"

English

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”). 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)

  1. Amusement, enjoyment or pleasure.
    Synonyms: amusement, diversion, enjoyment, a laugh, 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.
  2. 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

Adjective

fun (comparative more fun or funner, superlative most fun or funnest)

  1. (informal) Enjoyable or amusing.
    We had a fun time at the party.
    He is such a fun person to be with.
  2. (informal) Whimsical or flamboyant.
    This year's fashion style is much more fun than recent seasons.

Usage notes

  • Note that, prescriptively, the adjectival use of fun, instead of funny as in a funny movie, is often considered unacceptable in formal contexts. This includes censure of the comparative and superlative funner and funnest, but equally constructions such as very fun (rather than, say, a lot of fun). For more, see Quinion's discussion.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fun (third-person singular simple present funs, present participle funning, simple past and past participle funned)

  1. (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"

Anagrams

Chibcha

Pronunciation

Noun

fun

  1. Alternative form of bun

References

  • Gómez Aldana D. F., Análisis morfológico del Vocabulario 158 de la Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia. Grupo de Investigación Muysccubun. 2013.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English fun.

Pronunciation

Adjective

fun (invariable)

  1. (colloquial) fun
    C’était juste pour le fun.
    It was just for fun.

Galician

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

fun

  1. first-person singular preterite indicative of ir

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

fun

  1. first-person singular preterite indicative of ser

Japanese

Romanization

fun

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ふん
  2. Rōmaji transcription of フン

Tboli

Noun

fun

  1. owner

Yoruba

Verb

fún

  1. give
  2. choke, squeeze, strangle, throttle
  3. scatter, strew
  4. sew

Preposition

fún

  1. for, on behalf of
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia