Etymologically
Log in

fabulous

Etymology and origin of the English word fabulous

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1425
Ultimate origin
Latin (fabulosus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfæbjʊləs/ (UK); /ˈfæbjələs/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed through fabuleux and directly from Latin fābulōsus (“celebrated in fable”),[2][3][4] from fābula, a story, fable,[3][2] from fārī, to speak.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mythical, legendary: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon;[2] the early 15th century in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that in early use fabulous meant known through fable, unhistorical.[5][6] Fond of telling fables (1546) is an obsolete sense of persons.[7] Of a narrative, full of fables, it is from 1555,[7] and pertaining to fable from the 1550s.[3] Astonishing, beyond the usual range of fact, is from 1561 in the OED and 1609 in Barnhart.[7][2] By the 1950s the sense enormous or amazing had been trivialized to marvellous, terrific,[3] and the slang shortening fab is recorded by 1957 and was popularized by the Beatles about 1963.[3] Gowers (1965) placed fabulous among the words of high praise that young people use for a time and then tire of, like topping, spiffing, ripping and wizard.[3]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – legendary.[2]
  • 1561 – astonishing.[7]
  • 1950s – marvellous.[3]
  • 1957 – fab.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Hard to believe; astonishing: fabulous wealth.
  2. (informal) Extremely good; wonderful.
  3. Of or told in fables or legends; mythical.

Word family

  • fabulously
  • fabulousness
  • fantabulous
  • unfabulous
  • fab

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Fabulous.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/fabulous. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·