Fanny

See also: fanny and Fanný

English

Alternative forms

• Fannie

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfæni/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æni

Proper noun

Fanny (plural Fannys)

1. A diminutive of the female given name Frances, itself also becoming a given name.
   • 1883, Wilkie Collins, Heart and Science, Chatto and Windus, page 227:

     "My name is Frances. Don't call me Fanny!" "Why not?" "Because it's too absurd to be endured! What does the mere sound of Fanny suggest? A flirting dancing creature - plump and fair, and playful and pretty!"

   • 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 48:

     They listened to the sound of Fanny’s retreating footsteps. ‘Well, well!’ said Marcus. ‘Oh, take no notice Jess. You know what our Frances Maud is like! It’s nothing to cry about!’ To her humiliation Jessamy found there were tears trickling down her cheeks. ‘Always getting worked up about something, Fanny is.’
     – page 105:
     As she did so Fanny put down her book , stood up and stretched her arms, and at once Jessamy noticed a difference. It was the same Fanny but not the Fanny who climbed trees and tore her frock playing in the garden. It was as though a young lady film had settled over her, neatening her unruly hair, which was tied back with a large black bow, and primly composing her small mouth.

   • 2002, Annie Proulx, That Old Ace in the Hole, →ISBN, page 81:

     "I spose you want to be a cattleboy," drawled the multicolored beard whose name was Carrol Day, a curiously feminine name, thought Martin, not yet acquaintanced with the bearded Marions, Fannys and Abbys of Texas who, saddled by their unthinking mothers with dainty names, built savagely masculine frames of character.

Derived terms

• my aunt Fanny

Descendants

• → Danish: Fanny
• → Finnish: Fanni
• → French: Fanny
• → German: Fanny
• → Swedish: Fanny

Translations

female given name

• Danish: Fanny
• Finnish: Fanni (fi)
• French: Fanny (fr)
• German: Fanny f
• Swedish: Fanny (sv)

Danish

Etymology

From English Fanny.

Proper noun

Fanny

1. a female given name from English, equivalent to English Fanny

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English Fanny, also used as a pet form of Stéphanie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.ni/

Proper noun

Fanny f

1. a female given name
   1. a female given name from English, equivalent to English Fanny
   2. a diminutive of the female given name Stéphanie

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English Fanny.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfani/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Proper noun

Fanny f

1. a female given name from English, equivalent to English Fanny

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English Fanny.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Fanny c (genitive Fannys)

1. a female given name from English, equivalent to English Fanny