Meanings
alternative sweet Fanny Adams · alternative sweet FA · alternative SFA
- UKderogatoryobsoleteslanguncountablegovernmentTinned meat.
The Engineer Lieutenant pushed his head inside his neighbour's cabin: “Come along—come along! You'll be late for dinner. Fresh grub to-night: no more ‘Russian Kromeskis’ and ‘Fanny Adams’!”
1916, Bartimeus [pseudonym; Sir Lewis Ritchie], Naval Occasions, and Some Traits of the Sailor-man, Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and SonsSynonyms: Harriet Lane
Synonyms & antonyms
nounTinned meat.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From Fanny Adams (1859–1867), a young girl brutally murdered and dismembered. Tins of mutton introduced in the British navy after her death were not liked by the sailors and were humorously said to be her butchered remains. Fanny Adams then came to mean any worthless thing, and, eventually, nothing at all ("sweet F A"). Coincidentally, the initials "FA" also fit the vulgar term fuck all, also meaning "nothing at all", leading to later perception of "Fanny Adams", or "FA", being a euphemism for the latter.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Fanny Adams. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fanny%20Adams
“Fanny Adams.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fanny%20Adams. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Fanny Adams,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fanny%20Adams.
Source: Fanny Adams on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.