fun

From fonne, fon (“foolish, simple, silly”) or fonnen (“make a fool of”), 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”).

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

• Audio (US)

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• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ʌn

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.

• (enjoyment, amusement): amusement, diversion, enjoyment, a laugh, pleasure
• (playful, often noisy, activity): boisterousness, horseplay, rough and tumble

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.

   • 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, flamboyant

   This year's fashion style is much more fun than recent seasons.

• 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.

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

fun (invariable)

1. (colloquial) fun

Inflected form of ir (“to go”).

fun

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of ir

Inflected form of ser (“to be”).

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