fun

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”).

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌn

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

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.

• 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.

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.

• FNU, NFU, unf

• IPA^(key): /βun/

fun

1. Alternative form of bun

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

Borrowed from English fun.

• IPA^(key): /fœn/
• Rhymes: -œn

fun (invariable)

1. (colloquial) fun

   C’était juste pour le fun.

   It was just for fun.

   Il a l’air fun.

   It looks fun.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

fun

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of ir

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

fun

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of ser

fun

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

fun

1. owner

fún

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

fún

1. for, on behalf of