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Webster 1913 Edition

Fun

Fun

(fŭn)
,
Noun.
[Perh. of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael.
fonn
pleasure.]
Sport; merriment; frolicsome amusement.
“Oddity, frolic, and fun.”
Goldsmith.

Webster 1828 Edition

Fun

FUN

,
Noun.
Sport; vulgar merriment. A low word.

Definition 2024

fun

fun

See also: fún

English

Noun

fun ‎(uncountable)

  1. 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.
  2. playful, often noisy, activity.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

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

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

Usage notes

  • Note that, prescriptively, the adjectival use of fun 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.

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

Anagrams

French

Adjective

fun m, f ‎(invariable)

  1. (colloquial) fun

Galician

Etymology 1

Inflected form of ir ‎(“to go”).

Verb

fun

  1. first-person singular preterite indicative of ir

Etymology 2

Inflected form of ser ‎(“to be”).

Verb

fun

  1. first-person singular preterite indicative of ser

Japanese

Romanization

fun

  1. rōmaji reading of ふん

Lojban

Rafsi

fun

  1. rafsi of funca.

Tboli

Noun

fun

  1. owner

Etymology

From Middle English fonnen ‎(“make a fool of”) or fon, fonne ‎(“foolish, simple, silly”), 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 Old Frisian fāmne, fēmne ‎(“young woman, virgin”), 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

  • IPA(key): /fʌn/
  • Rhymes: -ʌn

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