Etymologically
Log in

fart

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 03:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /fɑːt/, /fɑɹt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ferten, also farten,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English *feortan, a verb that Old English records only in the verbal noun feorting (“breaking wind”), which glosses Latin pēdātio.[5][6][7][8] It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fertaną,[9][10] and is cognate with Middle Dutch verten, Middle Low German verten and Old High German ferzan (whence German furzen and the archaic farzen), and, with the consonants reversed, with Old Norse freta, Swedish fjärta and Danish fjerte.[6][7][11][12] The Germanic verb comes from the same Indo-European base as Ancient Greek πέρδομαι (pérdomai, “to break wind”), Lithuanian pérdžiu, Albanian pjerdh and Polish pierdzieć, and as verbs of the same meaning in Sanskrit and Russian,[9][6][12][13] reconstructed as Proto-Indo-European *perd-.[13][14][12][10] The base is probably imitative of the sound.[6][12][13][15] The OED thinks the Old English verb was probably strong, like its Old High German cognate, and that it became weak in Middle English; the modern vowel reflects the regular late Middle English lowering of “er” to “ar”.[6] It notes that Latin pēdō (“to break wind”), the source of petard, is apparently unrelated, though also imitative.[6][15] The noun is from the verb, Middle English fert, fart;[3][6][7] compare Old High German firz, German Furz and Old Norse fretr, from other ablaut grades of the same base.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To break wind.[2][6] Old English has only the verbal noun feorting, in a glossary,[6][5] and the first Middle English instance of the verb is in the song “Sumer is icumen in”, from before 1300, where “bucke uerteþ”, the buck farts.[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun appears in the late 14th century,[13][3] first, according to the OED, as the type of something worthless, in phrases such as not worth a fart (about 1390), and then for the act itself, in Chaucer's Miller's Tale and Summoner's Tale.[6][16] From the 16th century the verb was also transitive, to expel something or to produce a tune by farting (1568); from 1615 it was used figuratively of emitting fumes.[6] A fart could be a contemptible or annoying person from 1669;[6] the Shorter Oxford dates that slang sense only to the mid 20th century, and Merriam-Webster gives the phrase old fart.[7][3] Proverbial phrases include to fart against thunder, to make a futile protest (from 1699), and the obsolete to fart frankincense, to be conceited (1639–1834).[6] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as “wind from behind” and called it Saxon.[17] From the 18th century the word was often printed with dashes or asterisks for euphemism.[6] In Westmorland dialect the verb meant to dawdle or fumble at a task without the proper tools,[18] and fart about or fart around, to fool about or waste time, is now general slang.[19]

Timeline

  • Old English – the verbal noun feorting.[5][6]
  • before 1300 – the verb, in “Sumer is icumen in”.[2]
  • c. 1386 – the noun, an act of breaking wind, in Chaucer's Miller's Tale.[16]
  • c. 1390 – the noun as the type of something worthless.[6]
  • 1568 – transitive, to expel by farting.[6]
  • 1615 – figuratively, to emit fumes.[6]
  • 1642 – to make a noise like breaking wind.[6]
  • 1669 – a contemptible or annoying person.[6]
  • 1699 – to fart against thunder.[6]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines the noun as “wind from behind”.[17]
  • 1989 – fart out, to produce stale work.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To break wind, letting out intestinal gas through the anus.[19][3][6]
  2. fart about or fart around: to behave foolishly or aimlessly; to waste time: They spent the afternoon farting around in the garage.[19]
  3. (figurative) To give off fumes or smoke: The old bus farted diesel fumes at the queue.[6]

Noun

  1. An act of breaking wind; an emission of intestinal gas.[19][3][6]
  2. A foolish, annoying or contemptible person, often in old fart.[19][3][7][6]
  3. Something worthless, chiefly in phrases such as not worth a fart or not care a fart.[6][7]

Word family

  • old fart

Usage notes

The word is labelled slang or often vulgar in current dictionaries,[19][3] and the Shorter Oxford calls it coarse slang.[7] The OED also records a rare, unrelated noun fart, a small sweet spiced pastry (from 1480), borrowed from Portuguese farte.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  11. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  12. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  15. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  17. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  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)
  19. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins