"F" Word Origins

Fujiwara

Japanese

Transliteration of Japanese 藤原 (Fujiwara).

fukien

Origin

From the Postal Romanization of the Nanjing court dialect Mandarin 福建 (Fújiàn), from before the modern palatalization of [k] to [t͡ɕ]. Doublet of Hokkien. Compare Spanish Fokien, Portuguese Foquiem.

Fukuda

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 福田 (Fukuda).

Fukuoka

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 福(ふく)岡(おか) (Fukuoka).

Fukushima

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 福島(ふくしま) (Fukushima).

fulcral

Origin

From fulcr(um) + -al.

fulcrum

Latin

From Latin fulcrum, "bedpost" or "prop," from fulcio, "to support."

fulfill

Old English

From Old English fullfyllan, literally "to fill full" — full + fill.

fulfillness

Origin

From fulfil + -ness.

fulfilment

Old English

From Old English full ("full") + fyllan ("to fill"); the noun form of fulfill.

fulgent

Origin

From Middle English fulgent, from Latin fulgēns. By surface analysis, Latin fulg(ere) + -ent.

Fulham

Origin

So called because loaded dice were supposed to have been chiefly made at Fulham, originally in Middlesex, England.

fuliginous

Origin

From Latin fūlīginōsus, from fūlīgō (“soot”).

full

Old English

From Old English full, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "full" — related to the English word "plenty."

fullback

Origin

From full + back, describing the position furthest back on the field.

fuller

Latin

From Old English fullere, from Latin fullo ("one who fulls cloth").

Fullerton

Old English

From Old English fuglere (“fowler, birdcatcher”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

fullness

Old English

From Old English fulnes, from full + the suffix -ness.

fully

Old English

From Old English fullice, from full + the adverbial suffix -ly.

fulminate

Origin

Inherited from Middle English fulminaten, borrowed from Latin fulminātus, perfect passive participle of fulminō (“to lighten, hurl or strike with lightning”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from fulmen (“lightning which strikes and sets on fire, thunderbolt”), from earlier *fulgmen, *fulgimen, from fulgeō, fulgō (“flash, lighten”). Doublet of fulmine. More at fulgent.

fulmination

Origin

From Middle French fulmination, from Latin fulminātiō; equivalent to fulmine + -ation.

fulsome

Origin

From Middle English fulsom, equivalent to full + -some. The meaning has evolved from an original positive connotation "abundant" to a neutral "plump" to a negative "overfed". In modern usage, it can take on any of these inflections. See usage note. The negative sense "offensive, gross; disgusting, sickening" developed secondarily after the 13th century and was influenced by Middle English foul (“foul”). In the 18th century, the word was sometimes even spelled foulsome.

fulth

Origin

From Middle English fulth, fulthe; equivalent to full + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old English fylleþ (“fullness”, in compounds) and Middle High German vüllede (“fullness”).

Fulton

Old English

From Foulden, a village in Norfolk, from Old English fuġol (“bird”) + tūn (“dwelling”).

fumble

German

Likely from Low German or Dutch fummelen, "to fumble," possibly related to Scandinavian words for clumsy groping.

fume

Latin

From Old French fum, "smoke," from Latin fumus, "smoke, vapor" — related to the English word "dust."

fumfer

Origin

From Yiddish פֿאָנפֿען (fonfen, “to speak with a nasal twang, to mumble”) + -er (frequentative suffix). First attested in 1954. Compare fumf.

fun

Middle English · 1700

From Middle English fonne ("a fool" or "to make a fool of"); the modern sense "amusement" only emerged around the 1700s.

function

Latin

From Latin functio, "performance, execution," from fungor, "to perform or discharge."

functional

Origin

From function + the adjective suffix -al.

functionality

English

From functional, itself from function (Latin functio, 'performance, execution'), plus the noun-forming suffix -ity.

functor

Origin

From function, modeled after factor.

fund

Latin

Borrowed from Latin fundus, "bottom, foundation" — the same root as "fundamental" and "fundus."

fundament

Origin

From Middle English, from Old French fundement, fondement, from Latin fundāmentum (“foundation”), from fundō (“to lay the bottom, to found”). Doublet of fondamento.

fundamental

Late Latin

From Late Latin fundamentalis, from Latin fundamentum, "foundation," from fundus, "bottom."

fundamentalism

Origin

From fundamental + -ism. First used in the 1910s by American Christians.

fundamentalist

Origin · 1900

From fundamental + -ist, after a series of early-1900s pamphlets called "The Fundamentals."

fundamentally

Origin

From fundamental + -ly.

fundraise

Origin

From fund + raise, probably a back-formation from fundraising.

fundraiser

Origin

A straightforward English compound of "fund" and "raiser" — someone (or something) that raises funds.

fundraising

Origin

From "fund" + "raising" — the act of raising funds.

funeral

Latin

From Middle French funerailles ("funeral rites"), tracing back to Latin funus ("funeral, death, corpse"). It replaced the older English term līcþeġnung, literally "dead body service."

funfair

Origin

A simple compound of "fun" and "fair."

fung

Origin

A shortened, informal form of the word "fungus."

fungal

Origin

From "fungus" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-al."

fungible

Latin

From medieval Latin fungibilis, from the phrase fungi vice, 'to serve in place of', from fungi, 'to perform'.

fungous

Origin

From Latin fungōsus. Equivalent to fungus + -ous.

fungus

Latin

Borrowed directly from Latin fungus, meaning "mushroom."