fun
pronunciation
How to pronounce fun in British English:
UK [fʌn]
How to pronounce fun in American English:
US [fʌn]
-
- Noun:
- activities that are enjoyable or amusing
- verbal wit (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously)
- violent and excited activity
- a disposition to find (or make) causes for amusement
-
- Adjective:
- providing enjoyment; pleasantly entertaining
Word Origin
- fun
- fun: [17] A fun was originally a ‘trick, hoax, practical joke’: ‘A Hackney Coachman he did hug her, and was not this a very good Fun?’ Thomas D’Urfey, Pills to Purge Melancholy 1719. It came from the contemporary verb fun ‘cheat, hoax’, which was presumably a variant of the Middle English verb fon ‘make a fool of’. This in turn was a verbal use of the noun fon ‘fool’, probable origin of modern English fond.The current sense of fun, ‘amusement, merriment’, did not develop until the 18th century. The derived adjective funny, in the sense ‘amusing’, was roughly contemporary with it; ‘strange, odd’ is an early 19th-century semantic development.=> fond
- fun (n.)
- "diversion, amusement, mirthful sport," 1727, earlier "a cheat, trick" (c. 1700), from verb fun (1680s) "to cheat, hoax," which is of uncertain origin, probably a variant of Middle English fonnen "befool" (c. 1400; see fond). Scantly recorded in 18c. and stigmatized by Johnson as "a low cant word." Older senses are preserved in phrase to make fun of (1737) and funny money "counterfeit bills" (1938, though this use of the word may be more for the sake of the rhyme). See also funny. Fun and games "mirthful carryings-on" is from 1906.
- fun (v.)
- 1680s, "to cheat;" 1833 "to make fun, jest, joke," from fun (n.). Related: Funning.
- fun (adj.)
- mid-15c., "foolish, silly;" 1846, "enjoyable," from fun (n.).
Synonym
Example
- 1. Add fun stuff to your list .
- 2. Friends and fun should go hand in hand .
- 3. Because it makes life more fun .
- 4. But what fun would that be ?
- 5. What they lack is a sense of spontaneous fun .