fun

English

Etymology

From Middle English 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.

Alternative etymology connects Middle English fonne to 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”), Eastern Frisian fone, fon (“woman, maid, servant," also "weakling, simpleton”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fʌn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌn

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

• fun is often confused with funny. The difference is that fun things make you happy, while funny things make you laugh.
• Note that the use of fun as an adjective is often considered unacceptable in formal contexts.
• For more on the slang comparative and superlative, the use of which is disputed, see this discussion

Derived terms

• funny

Translations

enjoyable, amusing

• Arabic: مرح (ar) (máriḥ)
• Catalan: divertit (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 好玩 (cmn) (hǎowán)

• Danish: sjov (da)
• Dutch: plezierig (nl), leuk (nl), lollig (nl), plezant (nl) (Flanders)
• Esperanto: amuza (eo)
• Finnish: hauska (fi), kiva (fi)
• French: amusant (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: lustig (de), spaßig (de); to be fun: Spaß (de) machen
• Hebrew: מהנה (he) (mehāne), (colloquial) כייפי (he) (kefi)
• Hungarian: szórakoztató (hu), poénos (hu), poén (hu), élvezetes (hu)
• Interlingua: amusante (ia)
• Italian: divertente (it) m and f

• Japanese: 楽しい (ja) (たのしい, tanoshii)
• Korean: 즐거운 (ko) (jeulgeoun), 재미있다 (ko) (jaemi-itda)
• Lojban: zdile (jbo)
• Luxembourgish: flott (lb)
• Macedonian: забавен (mk) (zábaven) m, разоноден (mk) (razónoden) m
• Portuguese: divertido (pt)
• Romanian: distractiv (ro), vesel (ro) m and n, plăcut (ro) m and n
• Russian: забавный (ru) (zabávnyj), смешной (ru) (smešnój), весёлый (ru) (vesjólyj)
• Spanish: divertido (es) m
• Swahili: fani (sw)
• Swedish: skojig (sv), kul (sv), rolig (sv), skoj (sv), lustig (sv), gamman (sv)
• Tagalog: masaya (tl)
• Turkish: eğlenceli (tr), neşeli (tr)

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

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

Derived terms

terms derived from fun (noun)

for the fun of it fun and games fun bags funfair funfest fun-loving fun-maker funny fun run, fun runner, fun running funster

good fun great fun have fun have fun with in fun like fun make fun of poke fun at

Translations

enjoyment or amusement

• Arabic: مرح (ar) (máraḥ) m
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: zábava (cs) f, legrace (cs) f
• Dutch: lol m, plezier n, pret f/m
• Finnish: hauska (fi)
• French: amusement (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Spaß (de) m, Vergnügen (de) n, Amüsement (de) n
• Hebrew: הנאה (he) (hānāʾā) m, כיף (he) (keif) m
• Hindi: मज़ा (hi) (mazā) m
• Hungarian: móka (hu), tréfa (hu), poén (hu), szórakozás (hu)
• Irish: spraoi (ga) m, craic (ga) f
• Italian: divertimento (it) m
• Japanese: 遊び (ja) (あそび, asobi)
• Korean: 재미 (ko) (jaemi)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: بۆ هه‌وه‌س, رابواردن

• Latin: delicia (la)
• Luxembourgish: Amüsement (lb) m, Spaass (lb) m, Spaass (lb) m
• Macedonian: забава (mk) (zábava) f, разонода (mk) (razónoda) f
• Norwegian: moro (no)
• Persian: سرگرمی (fa) (sargarmi)
• Polish: ubaw (pl) m, radość (pl) f
• Portuguese: divertimento (pt) m
• Romanian: distracție (ro) f, amuzament (ro) n, divertisment (ro) n, plăcere (ro) f
• Russian: потеха (ru) (potéxa) f, веселье (ru) (vesél’je) n, забава (ru) (zabáva) f, развлечение (ru) (razvlečénije) n
• Scottish Gaelic: spòrs (gd) f
• Spanish: diversión (es) f
• Swahili: fani (sw)
• Tagalog: saya (tl)
• Turkish: eğlence (tr)
• Ukrainian: потіха (uk) (potíxa) f, забава (uk) (zabáva) f, розвага (uk) (rozváha) f
• Urdu: مزہ (ur) (mazā) m

playful, often noisy, activity

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玩 (cmn) (wán), 熱鬧 (cmn), 热闹 (cmn) (rè'nao)

• Dutch: plezier (nl) n, pret (nl)
• Finnish: hauskanpito (fi)
• Hungarian: mulatozás (hu), mulatság (hu)
• Italian: allegria (it) f, svago (it) m

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: هه‌وه‌س

• Norwegian: moro (no)
• Polish: zabawa (pl) f
• Scottish Gaelic: spòrs (gd) f, dibhearsan (gd) m
• Swahili: fani (sw)

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

• Finnish: laskea leikkiä (fi), narrata (fi), kiusoitella (fi)

Anagrams

• FNU NFU, unf

---

French

Adjective

fun (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

---

Lojban

Rafsi

fun

1. rafsi of funca.