"F" Word Origins

fane

Old English

From Old English fana, "banner, cloth" — related to "vane," as in weathervane.

fanfare

French

Borrowed from French fanfare.

fang

Old English

From Old English fengtōþ, "molar tooth," literally "catch-tooth," related to fōn, "to seize or catch."

fangirl

Origin

From fan + girl.

fangle

Origin

From Middle English fangelen (verb), from fangel (“inclined to take”, adjective), from Old English *fangol, *fangel (“inclined to take”), from fōn (“to take, seize”). Compare Old English andfangol (“undertaker, contractor”), Old English underfangelnes (“undertaking, hospitality”), Middle English fangen (“to take, seize, catch”), German fangen (“to catch”). More at fang.

fanlight

Origin

From fan + light (“window; source of illumination”).

Fanny

Origin · 1800

From "Fanny," a pet form of the name Frances, which became slang in the 19th century.

Fanta

German

A marketing name coined from German Fantasie, "imagination," when employees were asked to invent something creative for the new drink.

fantasia

Ancient Greek

Borrowed from Italian fantasia, ultimately from Ancient Greek phantasia, "imagination" — a relative of "fantasy" and "fancy."

fantasize

Origin

From fantasy + -ize.

fantastic

Ancient Greek

From Late Latin phantasticus, "imaginary," ultimately from Ancient Greek phantasia, "imagination."

fantasy

Ancient Greek

From Old French fantasie, ultimately from Ancient Greek phantasia, "imagination" — a doublet of "fancy" and "fantasia."

fap

English

Imitative internet slang, originating as a written sound effect for masturbation in online comics and message boards.

fappable

Origin

From fap + -able.

fapworthy

Origin

From fap + -worthy.

FAQ

English

An initialism of frequently asked questions, which spread with early internet discussion groups and later became standard on websites.

faqih

Origin

Borrowed from Arabic فَقِيه (faqīh).

far

Old English

From Old English feor, "far, distant," from a Proto-Germanic root.

Faraday

Irish

Named after the English scientist Michael Faraday, whose surname is an anglicised form of the Irish Ó Fearadaigh.

Farah

Arabic

Borrowed from Arabic فَرَح (faraḥ, “joy”).

faraway

Origin

A one-word fusion of "far" and "away."

Farber

German

Anglicized form of Färber, meaning "a dyer" from German Farbe "colour".

farce

French

From French farce, literally 'stuffing', from Latin farcire 'to stuff'. Comic interludes were originally 'stuffed' into the gaps between the acts of serious religious plays, and the name of the filling transferred to the joke.

farcical

Origin

From farce + -ical, after comical etc.

fare

Old English

From Old English fær and faru, both meaning "journey" — the same root that gives us "farewell" (literally "travel well").

farewell

Middle English

From the Middle English blessing "fare wel!" — literally "travel well!" — said to someone setting off on a journey.

Fargo

Origin

Named for Northern Pacific Railway director and Wells Fargo Express Company founder William Fargo.

Farley

Old English

From Old English fearn (“fern”) + lēah (“woodland”). Equivalent to fern + -ley (“lea”) and doublet of Farnley.

farlie

Origin

From Middle English farli, ferly, ferlich, feorlich (“a wonderful thing, a marvel, a wonder”), from Middle English farli, ferly, verlich, ferlik, ferlic, feorlic (“terrible, marvellous, wonderful”), from Old English fǣrlīċ (“sudden, unexpected, quick, horrible”), equivalent to fear + -ly. Cognate with Scots ferlie (“farlie”), Old Norse ferlíki, ferlíkan (“a monster, abnormality, monstrosity”), Old Norse ferligr (“monstrous”).

farm

Middle English

From Middle English ferme, "rent" or "provisions" — originally referred to a fixed rent or the food owed to a landlord, only later coming to mean the land itself.

farmer

Medieval Latin

From Old French fermier, "one who rents land" — ultimately from the same Medieval Latin root as "farm."

farmhand

Origin

A compound of "farm" and "hand," the latter used in the old sense of "a worker" (as in "factory hand" or "all hands on deck").

farmhouse

Origin

A straightforward compound of "farm" and "house."

farming

Origin

Formed from "farm" plus the "-ing" suffix that turns a verb into an activity or occupation.

farmland

Origin

A compound of "farm" and "land."

farmstead

Origin

From farm + stead, modelled after homestead.

farmworker

Origin

From farm + worker.

farmyard

Origin

A compound of "farm" and "yard."

farmyardy

Origin

farmyard + -y

faro

Old French

Probably an altered form of "pharaoh" — the King of Hearts on some old French playing cards was called Pharaon.

Farr

Old English

English surname, from Old English fearr (“bull”). As a German surname, of the same meaning and source (Farre).

Farrah

Middle English

Variant of Farrar, from Middle English ferreor (“iron worker, smith”). The given name was popularized by the American actress Farrah Fawcett (1947-2009). Her name is often interpreted as a variant of Farah.

farrow

Latin

From Old English fearh ("piglet"), tracing back to a very old Indo-European root also behind Latin porcus — making "farrow" a distant relative of "pork."

farse

Origin

From Medieval Latin farsa. Doublet of farce.

Farsi

Arabic

From Persian فارسی (fârsi), meaning "of Fars," the province whose name became linked to the Persian language after the Arab conquest of Persia introduced the Arabic-style spelling.

farsighted

Origin

From far + sighted.

fart

Old English

From Old English feortan, going back to a Proto-Indo-European root shared across many European languages — one of the oldest and most stable words in English.

farthing

Old English

From Old English fēorþing, "a fourth part" — built from fēorþa ("fourth"), the same root as "fourth" itself.