Etymologically
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fancy

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfæn.si/[1]

Etymology

It is a contraction of fantasy,[2][3][4][5] Middle English fantsy, fansey, from fantasie,[2][6] which is borrowed from Middle French fantasie, from Late Latin phantasia (“imagination”), from Greek phantasía “appearance, image”.[6] The verb is a contraction of Middle English fantasien “to fantasize”.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An inclination or liking: 1462–65 in the Paston Letters in Barnhart, the mid-15th century in Etymonline.[2][3] An arbitrary notion is from 1471 in the OED.[7]

Semantic evolution

Fancy and fantasy gradually separated in form and sense: fancy took the meaning of liking or whim, which fantasy lost in the 17th century, while both kept the sense of imagination.[2][3] The productive imagination is from the 1580s,[3][7] and a fanciful image from the 1660s.[3][7] Trench noted that the distinction Wordsworth drew between fancy and imagination was a new one, not an old difference revived.[8] The followers of a sport or hobby, especially boxing, are the fancy by 1735.[3] The adjective, fine or ornamental as opposed to plain, is from before 1751,[2][3] and fancy dress from 1770, while fancy-free is in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream (1590).[2] Fancy man, a lover, is attested by 1811.[3] The verb, to take a liking to, was revived in the 1540s, to imagine from the 1550s, and fancy that! is recorded by 1813.[3][2]

Timeline

  • 1462–65 – a liking.[2]
  • 1540s – the verb, to like.[3]
  • 1580s – imagination.[3]
  • 1590 – fancy-free.[2]
  • 1735 – the fancy, followers of a sport.[3]
  • 1751 – the adjective, ornamental.[2][3]
  • 1770 – fancy dress.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Elaborate or decorated rather than plain.
  2. Expensive or of high quality, sometimes said ironically: a fancy restaurant.
  3. Needing skill; intricate.

Noun

  1. A liking or desire, especially a passing one: she took a fancy to it.
  2. Imagination, especially of a playful kind; something imagined.
  3. A whim.

Verb

  1. (chiefly British, informal) To want or like; to be attracted to.
  2. To imagine or suppose: fancy meeting you here.

Word family

  • fancily
  • fanciness
  • fanciful
  • fancy-free
  • fancify
  • fancy-pants
  • fancywork
  • unfancy

Usage notes

In Yorkshire, Midland and Norfolk dialect a fancy, or fancy man or woman, is an illicit lover.[9]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  9. ^ 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)