"F" Word Origins

farthingless

Origin

From farthing + -less.

farthole

Origin

From fart + hole.

farting

Old English

From Old English feorting, the noun form of "fart" with the "-ing" ending.

fascia

Origin

Borrowed from Latin fascia (“a band, bandage, swathe”). Related to fascēs (“bundle of rods containing an axe with the blade projecting”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰask- (“bundle, band”). Cognate with fajita, fess, and fascism.

fascinate

Latin

From Latin fascinare, "to bewitch or enchant," originally connected to the idea of casting a spell over someone.

fascination

Latin

From Latin fascinare, "to bewitch" — the same root as "fascinate," originally carrying a sense of being magically charmed.

fascism

Italian

From Italian fascismo, coined from fascio ("bundle" or "group"), referencing the Roman fasces — a bundle of rods symbolising authority — adopted as an emblem by Mussolini's movement.

fashion

Latin

From Old French façon, "shape, make, appearance," ultimately from Latin factio, "a making" — a doublet of "faction."

fashionable

Origin

Formed from "fashion" plus the suffix "-able."

fashionably

Origin

From "fashionable" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

fast

Old English

From Old English fæst, "firm, secure." The sense of "quick" developed later — the idea was that moving "fast" (firmly, steadily) toward something eventually came to mean moving rapidly, much as we still say "run hard" today.

fastball

Origin

A compound of "fast" and "ball."

fasten

Old English

From Old English fæstnian, "to make firm" — built from the same root as "fast" in its old sense of "firm, secure."

fastening

Origin

From fasten + -ing.

faster

Origin

The comparative form of "fast," formed with the standard "-er" ending.

fastidious

Latin

From Latin fastidiosus ("disdainful, squeamish"), from fastidium ("disgust, distaste").

fastigium

Origin

From Latin fastigium.

fasting

Origin

From "fast" (to abstain from food) plus the suffix "-ing".

fastness

Origin

From Middle English fastnes, fastnesse (“immovableness, stability; firmness, solidness; secure attachment; constancy; obstinacy; something giving firmness or strength; of sleep: soundness; of a wound: healing; assurance, confirmation”) [and other forms], from Old English fæstnes (“fastness, firmness, stability; resolution; tenacity; vigour; firmament; fortification”) [and other forms], from fæst (“firm, stable; constant”) (from Proto-Germanic *fastuz (“firm, fixed; secure”); see further at that entry) + -nes (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a quality or state). The English word may be analysed as fast + -ness.

fat

Old English

From Old English fǣtt, related to Proto-Germanic words for "fattened" or "stuffed".

Fatah

Arabic

From Arabic فَتْح (fatḥ), a reverse acronym (meaning literally "conquest, victory or an outcome") for حَرَكَة اَلتَّحْرِير اَلْوَطَنِيّ اَلْفِلَسْطِينِيّ (ḥaraka(t) at-taḥrīr al-waṭaniyy al-filasṭīniyy, “Palestinian National Liberation Movement”).

fatal

Latin

From Latin fatalis, "decreed by fate", from fatum ("fate").

fatality

French

From French fatalité, built from "fatal" plus "-ity"; the video-game sense comes from the Mortal Kombat series.

fatally

Origin

From "fatal" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly".

fatberg

Origin

From fat + berg, modelled on iceberg. By surface analysis, fat + -berg.

fate

Latin

From Latin fatum, "that which has been spoken" — originally a prophecy or divine decree.

fateful

Origin

From "fate" plus "-ful".

Fateh

Arabic

From Arabic فَاتِح (fātiḥ).

Fates

Origin

The plural of "fate".

fathead

Origin

From "fat" plus "head".

fatheaded

Origin

From fat + headed.

father

Latin

From Old English fæder, from a very old Indo-European root shared with Latin pater and Greek patēr.

fatherhood

Origin

From "father" plus the suffix "-hood", which forms nouns describing a state or condition.

fatherland

German

From "father" plus "land", echoing similar compounds in German (Vaterland) and Dutch (vaderland).

fatherless

Origin

From "father" plus "-less".

fatherly

Origin

From "father" plus "-ly".

fathom

Old English

From Old English fæþm, originally meaning "outstretched arms" or "embrace" — the span of a person's arms was once used to measure length.

fatigue

Latin

From French fatiguer, from Latin fatigare, "to tire out, weary".

Fatima

Arabic

From Arabic فَاطِمَة (fāṭima). The name Fatima is from the Arabic root f-t-m (lit. 'to wean') and signifies the Shia belief that she, her progeny, and her adherents (Shi'a) have been spared from hellfire. Alternatively, the word Fatima is associated in Shia sources with Fatir (lit. 'creator', a name of God) as the earthly symbol of the divine creative power.

fatso

Origin

From "fat" plus the informal suffix "-o".

fatten

Origin

From "fat" plus the verb-forming suffix "-en".

fattening

Origin

From "fatten" plus "-ing".

fatty

Origin

From "fat" plus "-y".

fatuity

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French fatuité.

fatuous

Origin

From Latin fatuus (“foolish, silly, simple”).

faucet

Latin

From Old French fausset, of uncertain origin, possibly linked to Latin faux ("throat") or Old Norse fors ("waterfall").

faugh

Origin

Onomatopoeic.

Faulkner

Origin

A variant of the Scottish surname Falconer, from the occupation of training and handling falcons.