fan

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fæn/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

The word for an air-moving device is inherited from Middle English fanne, inherited from Old English fann (“winnowing basket or shovel”),^[2][3][4] earlier fon,^[2] borrowed from Latin vannus (“winnowing fan”),^[2][3][4][5] perhaps related to ventus (“wind”) (see wind).^[3][2] Old English had no letter v, hence the initial f.^[3] The word for an enthusiast (1889, American English) is probably short for fanatic,^[3][2][6][5] perhaps influenced by the fancy, a collective term for followers of a sport such as boxing.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A basket or wooden shovel for winnowing grain by tossing it in the air, so that the lighter chaff blows away (a800).^[7][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The winnowing fan of the Gospels (“whose fan is in his hand”) gave the word its first meaning.^[8][9] About 1390, in Chaucer, it was first used of a device for moving the air to cool the face,^[10][3] and the hand-held fan, a 16th-century introduction, is recorded from 1555.^[7][3][9] Things shaped like an open fan, such as a bird's tail or a spread of light, were called fans from the late 16th century,^[8] and the rotating bladed machine that drives air followed.^[8][11] The verb, from Old English fannian, first meant to winnow grain (c. 1000);^[2][7][3] to stir up air dates from the early 15th century,^[3][2] and to strike out a batter in baseball from 1909.^[3] The noun meaning a devotee began among American baseball followers;^[3][12] an isolated use in 1682 (“loyal Phans”) is probably a separate shortening of fanatic.^[3][12][8] The Latin source of fanatic, fānāticus, meant “of a temple” and hence “inspired by orgiastic rites, frantic”.^[13][14] Compounds include fan mail (1920 in Etymonline, 1924 in Barnhart) and fan club (by 1930).^[3][10]

Timeline

• a800 – a winnowing basket.^[7]
• c. 1000 – as a verb, to winnow.^[7][2]
• about 1390 – a device for moving air (Chaucer).^[10]
• 1555 – a hand-held fan.^[7][3]
• 1682 – an isolated use for a fanatic.^[3][7]
• 1889 – an enthusiast (American English).^[3][2]
• 1909 – to strike out a batter.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A device for creating a current of air, especially a machine with rotating blades driven by a motor.
2. A folding or flat hand-held device, often wedge-shaped when open, waved to cool the face.
3. Something shaped like an open fan, such as a bird's tail or a spread-out deposit of alluvium.
4. A device for winnowing grain.
5. An enthusiastic follower of a sport, performer, pastime or person; a devotee.

Verb

1. To move air, or cool someone, with a fan or as if with one.
2. To stir up or intensify, as a fire or feelings.
3. To spread out in the shape of a fan (often with out).
4. To winnow grain.
5. (baseball) To strike out a batter, or to strike out.
6. To fire a gun rapidly, as by striking the hammer with the palm.

Word family

• fanlike
• fanback
• fanfold
• fanjet
• fanleaf
• fanweed
• fanwise

Related words

• fanatic
• fancy
• winnow
• vane
• van
• wind

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b Cassell's Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, London: Cassell
13. ^ From Abracadabra to Zeus: Word Histories and Mysteries (2004), Boston: Houghton Mifflin (American Heritage Dictionaries)
14. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press