fun

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”), from Old Norse fáni (“vain person, swaggerer”), but of unknown ultimate origin. Perhaps related to or influenced by fjäll (“rock, cliff, mountain”). 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

• (US, UK) enPR: fŭn, IPA^(key): /fʌn/
• (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): /fʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌn

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

• antifun
• unfun (adjective and noun)

 

With suffixes

• funalicious
• funless → funlessly, funlessness
• funny
• funsies
• funsome
• funster

 

Blends

• funemployed, funemployment
• fungasm
• funishment
• funspirational
• funtastic
• funtivity

 

Terms derived from fun (noun), with this term at the beginning

• fun and games
• funbags, fun bags
• funboard
• funbox
• funfair
• funfest
• funfilled
• funhouse, fun house
• fun-lover, fun-loving
• funmaker, fun-maker
• fun on a bun, fun in a bun
• fun pack
• fun park
• fun police
• fun run, fun runner, fun running
• fun size, fun-size, fun-sized
• fun sponge

Terms derived from fun (noun), with this term in the middle or at the end

• barrel of fun
• every good boy deserves fun
• figure of fun
• for fun, for the fun of it, just for fun
• fun fund
• fun up
• good fun, great fun
• have fun, have fun with, time flies when you're having fun
• in fun
• it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye
• like fun
• make fun of
• no fun, no fun at parties
• poke fun

Translations

enjoyment or amusement

• Arabic: مَرَح m (maraḥ), تَرْفِيه m (tarfīh), تَسْلِيَة f (tasliya)

  Egyptian Arabic: تَرْفِيه m (tarfīh)

  South Levantine Arabic: تَرْفِيه m (tarfīh), تسلية (tisláye)

  Syrian Arabic: تسلية (tisláye)

• Armenian: հաճույք (hy) (hačuykʻ), ուրախություն (hy) (uraxutʻyun)
• Assamese: ধেমালি (dhemali), উলাহ-বিলাহ (ulah-bilah), আমোদ (amüd)
• Bengali: মজা (bn) (moja), ফুর্তি (bn) (phurti)
• Bulgarian: забава (bg) (zabava), веселие (bg) (veselie)
• Catalan: diversió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玩 (zh) (wán), 熱鬧／热闹 (zh) (rènao), 樂趣／乐趣 (zh) (lèqù)

• Czech: zábava (cs) f, legrace (cs) f
• Dutch: lol (nl) m, plezier (nl) n, pret (nl) f or m
• Esperanto: ŝercado
• Estonian: lõbus
• Finnish: hauskuus (fi)
• French: amusement (fr) m
• Georgian: გართობა (gartoba)
• German: Spaß (de) m, Vergnügen (de) n, Amüsement (de) n
• Greek: κέφι (el) n (kéfi)
• Hebrew: הֲנָאָה (he) m (hanaá), כֵּיף (he) m (kēf)
• Hindi: मज़ा (hi) m (mazā)
• Hungarian: móka (hu), (literary) tréfa (hu), szórakozás (hu), mulatság (hu), (colloquial) muri (hu), (as in “for kicks”) poén (hu)
• Icelandic: gaman (is) n
• Irish: spraoi m, craic f, spórt m, áibhéar m, aiteas m
• Italian: divertimento (it) m
• Japanese: 遊び (ja) (asobi), 楽しみ (ja) (tanoshimi), 面白さ (omoshirosa)
• Korean: 재미 (ko) (jaemi)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بۆ ھەوەس (bo hewes), رابواردن (rabwardin)

• Ladin: hez f
• Latin: delicia f
• Latvian: jautri
• Lithuanian: linksma
• Luxembourgish: Amüsement m, Spaass m
• Macedonian: забава f (zabava), разонода f (razonoda)
• Malay: seronok
• Maltese: gost m
• Navajo: zhǫʼ
• Norwegian: moro (no)
• Ottoman Turkish: جنبش (cümbüş), كیف (keyf), رامش (râmiş)
• Persian: سرگرمی (fa) (sargarmi)
• Plautdietsch: Spos n
• Polish: ubaw (pl) m, radość (pl) f
• Portuguese: divertimento (pt) m, diversão (pt) f
• Romanian: distracție (ro) f, amuzament (ro) n, divertisment (ro) n, plăcere (ro) f
• Russian: поте́ха (ru) f (potéxa), весе́лье (ru) n (vesélʹje), заба́ва (ru) f (zabáva), развлече́ние (ru) n (razvlečénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: spòrs f, fealla-dhà m
• Serbo-Croatian: zȃbava (sh) f, próvod (sh) m
• Spanish: diversión (es) f, gracia (es) f, trebejo (es) m, divertimento m, divertimiento (es) m
• Swedish: skoj (sv)
• Tagalog: saya (tl)
• Thai: ความสนุก (th) (kwaam-sà-nùk)
• Turkish: eğlence (tr)
• Ukrainian: поті́ха f (potíxa), заба́ва f (zabáva), розва́га (uk) f (rozváha)
• Urdu: مزہ m (mazā)
• Volapük: cog (vo)
• West Flemish: leute f
• Yiddish: שפּאַס m (shpas)

playful, often noisy, activity

• Armenian: զվարճանք (hy) (zvarčankʻ)
• Bulgarian: веселие (bg) (veselie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玩 (zh) (wán), 熱鬧／热闹 (zh) (rènao)

• Dutch: plezier (nl) n, pret (nl), lol (nl)
• Finnish: hauskanpito (fi)
• Greek: κέφι (el) n (kéfi)
• Hungarian: mulatozás (hu), mulatság (hu)
• Italian: allegria (it) f, svago (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھەوەس (hewes)

• Latin: lūdus (la) m
• Norwegian: moro (no)
• Plautdietsch: Spos n
• Polish: zabawa (pl) f
• Portuguese: divertimento (pt) m
• Scottish Gaelic: spòrs f, dibhearsan m

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.

   • 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

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

• fun fact
• fun fur
• fun money
• funner, funnest (nonstandard)
• funness
• funnish
• funpost
• no fun at parties
• superfun
• unfun (adjective and noun)
• you must be fun at parties

 

Translations

enjoyable, amusing

• Arabic: مَرِح (mariḥ), مُسَلٍّ (musallin)

  Egyptian Arabic: ممتع (múmteʕ), مُسَلِّي (musálli)

  North Levantine Arabic: بِسلّي (bisálli)

  South Levantine Arabic: ممتع (múmteʕ), مُسَلِّي (musálli), بِسلّي (bisálli)

• Armenian: ուրախ (hy) (urax), զվարթ (hy) (zvartʻ)
• Bengali: মজার (bn) (mojar)
• Bulgarian: смешен (bg) (smešen), забавен (bg) (zabaven)
• Catalan: divertit (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 好玩 (hou² waan^4-2)

  Mandarin: 好玩 (zh) (hǎowán)

• Danish: sjov (da)
• Dutch: plezierig (nl), leuk (nl), lollig (nl), plezant (nl) (Flanders)
• Esperanto: amuza
• Estonian: lõbus
• Finnish: hauska (fi), kiva (fi)
• French: amusant (fr)
• Georgian: გართობა (gartoba)
• German: lustig (de), spaßig (de); to be fun: Spaß (de) machen
• Hebrew: מהנה (mehāne), (colloquial) כייפי (kefi)
• Hungarian: (literary) szórakoztató (hu), mókás (hu), élvezetes (hu), (colloquial) poénos, vicces (hu), jópofa (hu)
• Interlingua: amusante
• Italian: divertente (it) m or f, intrigante (it) m or f
• Japanese: 楽しい (ja) (たのしい, tanoshii)
• Korean: 즐거운 (ko) (jeulgeoun), 재미있다 (ko) (jaemiitda)
• Lao: ມ່ວນ (mūan)
• Latin: dēlectābilis
• Latvian: jautri
• Lithuanian: linksma
• Luxembourgish: flott
• Macedonian: забавен m (zabaven), разоноден m (razonoden)
• Malay: menyeronokkan
• Polish: bawny (archaic), zabawny (pl)
• Portuguese: divertido (pt)
• Romanian: distractiv (ro), vesel (ro) m or n, plăcut (ro) m or n
• Russian: заба́вный (ru) (zabávnyj), смешно́й (ru) (smešnój), весёлый (ru) (vesjólyj)
• Spanish: divertido (es)
• Swedish: rolig (sv), kul (sv), skojig (sv)
• Tagalog: masaya
• Thai: สนุก (th) (sà-nùk), มันส์ (th) (man) (slang)
• Turkish: eğlenceli (tr), neşeli (tr)
• Volapük: cogik (vo)

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

to tease, kid, poke fun

• Bulgarian: закачам се (zakačam se)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: ^{(please verify)} 玩 (waan^4-2)

• Dutch: plagen (nl)
• Finnish: laskea leikkiä, narrata (fi), kiusoitella (fi)
• French: amuser (fr)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tulle (no)

• Swedish: skoja (sv)

See also

etymologically unrelated multiword terms containing "fun"

• cheong fun
• chow fun
• hor fun
• mei fun

 

Anagrams

• FNU, NFU, unf

Chibcha

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /βun/

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

• IPA^(key): /fœn/
• Rhymes: -œn

Adjective

fun (invariable)

1. (colloquial) fun

   C’était juste pour le fun.

   It was just for fun.

   Il a l’air fun.

   It looks 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