fad

F4A1D2
/fæd/Northumbria/faːd/

noun

A phenomenon that becomes popular for a very short time.

Less commonScrabble 7

Meanings

fad1

nounfad (plural fads)

plural fads

  1. A phenomenon that becomes popular for a very short time.

    You're a fad, that means you're something that we've already had, but once you're gone, you don't come back.

    2004, Andre R. Young, “Encore”, in Encore
    1 more example

    The pet rock fad was started by an advertising executive named Gary Dahl. The premise was simple: take ordinary rocks, glue eyes on them, and market them as pets.

    2010, Eric J. Cesal, Down Detour Road: An Architect in Search of Practice, page 134

FAD2

nounFAD (uncountable)
  1. abbreviationinitialismuncountablebiochemistryInitialism of flavin adenine dinucleotide.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounan interest followed with exaggerated zeal

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Frenchfadaise
  2. Old Englishġefæd“order, decorum”
  3. Englishfad

Of English dialectal origin. Further origin obscure. Possibly from Old English ġefæd (“order, decorum”) (compare Old English ġefæd (“orderly, tidy”), fadian, ġefadian (“to set in order, arrange”), whence Middle English faden (“to arrange”)); or from French fadaise ("a trifling thought"; see fadaise).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic تَقْلِيعَة
  • تَقْلِيعَة (taqlīʕa)phenomenon
Catalan moda
  • modaphenomenon
Chinese Mandarin 时尚
  • 时尚 (shíshàng)phenomenon
Czech přechodná móda, módní výstřelek
  • přechodná módaphenomenon
  • módní výstřelekphenomenon
  • poblázněníphenomenon
  • pomíjivá módaphenomenon
Dutch modegril, manie
  • modegrilphenomenon
  • maniephenomenon
  • ragephenomenon
Esperanto furoro
  • furorophenomenon
Finnish villitys, muoti-ilmiö
  • villitysphenomenon
  • muoti-ilmiöphenomenon
  • muotivillitysphenomenon
  • muotihullutusphenomenon
  • muotiphenomenon
French mode, lubie
  • modephenomenon
  • lubiephenomenon
German Mode, Trend
  • Modephenomenon
  • Trendphenomenon
  • Modeerscheinungphenomenon
  • Fimmelphenomenon
  • Hypephenomenon
Italian moda, andazzo
  • modaphenomenon
  • andazzophenomenon
  • tendenzaphenomenon
Japanese ファッド
  • ファッドphenomenon
Norwegian trend
  • trendphenomenon
Polish moda
  • modaphenomenon
Portuguese moda
  • modaphenomenon
Russian причу́да
  • причу́да (pričúda)phenomenon
Spanish moda, moda pasajera
  • modaphenomenon
  • moda pasajeraphenomenon
  • voga fugazphenomenon
  • fashion efímerophenomenon
Swedish fluga, dagslända
  • flugaphenomenon
  • dagsländaphenomenon
Tagalog uso
  • usophenomenon
Turkish moda, trend
  • modaphenomenon
  • trendphenomenon

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with fad

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

fad. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fad

MLA

“fad.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fad. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fad,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fad.

Source: fad on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.