fanzine

fan·zine
F4A1N1Z10I1N1E1
/ˈfænˌziːn/

noun

A magazine, normally produced by amateurs, intended for people who share a common interest.

Meanings

nounfanzine (plural fanzines)

plural fanzines

  1. A magazine, normally produced by amateurs, intended for people who share a common interest.

    Maybe a few dozen hours of collective neofans, all reading him fanzine press at once, would cure him of these paternal instincts.

    1988, Sharyn McCrumb, Bimbos of the Death Sun, →ISBN, page 9
    5 more examples

    I don't know how many fanzines there've been, but surely no fewer than 500 different items, some running for one issue and some for several dozen.

    1950 September, Francis Towner Laney, “Syllabus for a Fanzine”, in Spacewarp, number 42, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2019, page 8

    "Well, long ago," said the Tin Woodsfan, "a fan and I were feuding, and the fan decided to drive me out of fandom. But no one can leave Iz because of the great burning desert called Public Contempt which surrounds this fannish land, and since nobody ever gafiates while still inside the country, he had to cast a spell of immobility upon me. One day when I was chopping wood to make paper for my fanzine, he cast his spell, and there I've been until you came along."

    1959, Terry Carr, Ron Ellik (as Carl Brandon), “The Tin Woodsfan”, in The BNF of Iz, archived from the original on 21 Jul 2013

    He always had projects ― he makes videos in his apartment, and he and a friend put out a fanzine — but he was all over the map.

    1995, Lynn Hirschberg, “What's The Matter With Kids Today?”, in New York Magazine, volume 28, number 23, page 39

    The US jazz magazine Coda began in 1958 as a 12-page mimeographed fanzine, put together by its editor and a team of volunteers working for beer and pizza.

    2013, Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, volume 1, →ISBN, Fanzines, page 227

    “Do you think Cal Bodian's over there? Do you think he'll sign my zine?” “♪♪ Bum, bada-dum. ♪♪ My P.I. Undercover fanzine. I've done everything myself. I just took a guess about the chest hair.”

    2024 November 25, Max Brockman, “P.I. Undercover: New York” (5:35 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 6, episode 8, spoken by Guillermo de la Cruz (Harvey Guillén)

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

Blend of fan + magazine. Coined by American chess player and SF fandom founder Russ Chauvenet in the October 1940 edition of his own science fiction fanzine Detours, to replace the earlier fanmag.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 迷友雜誌 /迷友杂志, 同人誌 /同人志
  • 迷友雜誌 /迷友杂志 (míyǒuzázhì)a magazine, normally produced by amateurs
  • 同人誌 /同人志 (tóngrénzhì)a magazine, normally produced by amateurs
French fanzine, dōjinshi
  • fanzinea magazine, normally produced by amateurs
  • dōjinshia magazine, normally produced by amateurs
German Fanzine
  • Fanzinea magazine, normally produced by amateurs
Japanese 同人誌
  • 同人誌 (dōjinshi)a magazine, normally produced by amateurs
Korean 팬 잡지, 동인지
  • 팬 잡지 (paen japji)a magazine, normally produced by amateurs
  • 동인지 (dong'inji)a magazine, normally produced by amateurs
Polish fanzin
  • fanzina magazine, normally produced by amateurs
Portuguese fanzine
  • fanzinea magazine, normally produced by amateurs
Russian фэнзи́н, додзинси́
  • фэнзи́н (fɛnzín)a magazine, normally produced by amateurs
  • додзинси́ (dodzinsí)a magazine, normally produced by amateurs

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

fanzine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fanzine

MLA

“fanzine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fanzine. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fanzine,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fanzine.

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