Etymology

fan

F4A1N1

Today it means: A hand-held device consisting of concertinaed material, or slats of material, gathered together at one end, that may be opened out into the shape of a sector of a circle and waved back and forth in order to move air towards oneself and cool oneself. Full definition →

Middle English fan ← Old English fann ← Latin vannus
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

fan · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂weh₁-“to blow”
  2. Latin · derived fromvannus“fan for winnowing grain”
  3. Old English · inherited fromfann“a winnowing, fan”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromfan
  5. English todayfan

Inherited from Middle English fan, inherited from Old English fann (“a winnowing, fan”), derived from Latin vannus (“fan for winnowing grain”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”). Cognates * Latin ventus (“wind”) * Dutch wan (“winnowing basket”) * German Wanne (“winnowing basket”) * Swedish vanna (“a fan for winnowing”) * Old English windwian (“to fan, winnow”). More at winnow.

fan · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰéh₁s
  3. Proto-Italic*faznom
  4. Latinfānum
  5. Latinfānāticu
  6. Frenchfanatiqueinflu.
  7. Englishfanatic
  8. Englishfancyinflu.
  9. English todayfan

Clipping of fanatic, originally in US baseball slang. Possibly influenced by fancy (“group of sport or hobby enthusiasts”), i.e. fancy boy (“fan”).

fan · noun3

  1. Cantonese · borrowed from分
  2. English todayfan

From Cantonese 分. Doublet of fen and hoon.

Fan · proper noun4

Shortening of Fanny, itself a short form of Frances.

Fan · proper noun5

  1. Mandarin · borrowed from范
  2. English todayFan

From Mandarin 范 (Fàn).

Words from the same roots

Latinvannus all →

van

Proto-Indo-European*h₂weh₁- all →

wing

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.