fad

Etymology

Its origin is unknown or uncertain.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The OED and Barnhart note that it was widely current in the dialects, chiefly of the Midlands, before it came into general use;^[2][4] Barnhart puts that adoption in the 1880s.^[4] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it as probably the second element of fidfad, a fussy person or a petty matter, itself short for fiddle-faddle;^[7][8][9] the American Heritage Dictionary calls this possible,^[10] Barnhart reports it as a speculation,^[4] and Word Origins states it as fact.^[11] Dictionary.com derives the noun from a dialect verb fad, to busy oneself with trifles, a back-formation from obsolete faddle, to play with.^[12] Skeat, Weekley and Klein instead connected it with French fadaise (“trifle, nonsense”),^[13][14][15] from Old Occitan fadeza (“folly, foolishness”), from fat (“foolish”), from Latin fatuus (“foolish, stupid”);^[15][13] Etymonline gives both proposals,^[16] and Partridge, who also mentions a link with fatuous, judges the whole nexus as uncertain as the word.^[17] The verb fad belongs with the noun, but the OED cannot tell which came first.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pet project or hobby, a whimsical notion to which someone gives exaggerated importance: 1834, in a quotation from Bishop Fraser.^[2][4][16] The adjective faddy, given to fads, is recorded earlier, from 1824,^[2][16] and fidfad from 1754 for a fussy person, as an adjective from 1830.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the dialects the noun meant a whim, fancy, hobby or crotchet: the English Dialect Dictionary recorded it from Scotland and Northumberland to Sussex, Somerset and Devon, in sayings such as "It's all a fad" and "He's full of fads".^[18] The sense "fashion, craze", a fancy taken up widely for a time with irrational zeal, is recorded from 1881,^[4][16] and the OED notes that this is now the chief sense.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates its first sense, a pursuit followed widely but briefly, to 1867.^[3] In Lincolnshire dialect from 1877 a fad (also faddy) was a fussy, over-particular person.^[2] The verb is a dialect word from 1847 and meant "to advocate fads" from 1890.^[2]

Timeline

• 1824 – faddy, particular about trifles.^[2][16]
• 1834 – a hobby, pet project or whimsical notion.^[2][4][16]
• 1847 – verb, in dialect.^[2]
• 1877 – a fussy person, in Lincolnshire dialect.^[2]
• 1881 – a fashion or craze.^[4][16] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1867.^[3]
• 1890 – verb, to advocate fads.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An intense but short-lived fashion or interest, taken up with great enthusiasm by many people; a craze: Roller discos were the latest fad that summer.^[5][3][2]
2. A personal whim or idiosyncrasy, especially a notion to which someone gives exaggerated importance: Her aunt had a fad about drinking only boiled water.^[5][2][8]

Word family

• faddism
• faddist
• faddy
• faddish
• faddishly
• faddishness
• fadlike

Related words

• fiddle-faddle
• fidfad
• fiddle
• fatuous

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
16. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)