Etymologically
Log in

fast

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /fɑːst/, US /fæst/[1]

fast1 firm, quick

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English fast, inherited from Old English fæst (“firmly fixed, steadfast; secure, strong”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *fastuz.[2][5] Its cognates include Old Frisian fest, Old Saxon fast, Dutch vast, German fest and Old Norse fastr.[3][6][7] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *past- (“firm, solid”), comparing Armenian hast “firm” and Sanskrit pastyā “dwelling”.[2][8][7] The adverb is from Old English fæste (“firmly, securely”).[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Firmly fixed, steadfast: Old English fæst, before 900, in Alfred's translation of Boethius,[3] or about 888.[9]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that the old meaning survives in colour-fast and make a rope fast, and in fasten.[10] The adverb meant “quickly” by about 1200, perhaps under the influence of Old Norse fast “firmly, hard”: Etymonline explains that the sense moved from “firmly, vigorously” to “quickly”, as run hard means run fast.[2] The adjective “rapid, quick” is from the 1550s, from the adverb,[2] or the 16th century.[5] Fast asleep keeps the sense “firmly”.[2] Of colours it is from the 1650s, and of clocks from 1840.[2] “Living an unrestrained life, pursuing pleasure” is from 1746.[2] Fast buck is from 1947, fast food by 1951, and fast lane by 1966.[2]

Timeline

  • before 900 – Old English fæst, firm.[3]
  • c. 1200 – adverb, quickly.[2]
  • 1550s – adjective, quick.[2]
  • 1650s – of colours.[2]
  • 1746 – dissipated.[2]
  • 1840 – of clocks.[2]
  • 1951 – fast food.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Moving or able to move quickly; swift; done in a short time.
  2. Of a clock, ahead of the correct time.
  3. Firmly fixed or fastened; secure; of colours, not likely to fade.
  4. Loyal: fast friends.
  5. Given to pleasure-seeking; dissipated.

Adverb

  1. Quickly, rapidly.
  2. Firmly, securely; deeply: fast asleep.

Word family

  • fasten
  • fastness
  • steadfast
  • fast food
  • fast-forward
  • fast track
  • colourfast

fast2 abstain from food

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English fasten, inherited from Old English fæstan (“to fast as a religious duty; to make firm”),[2][3][6] from Proto-Germanic *fastaną (“to hold, guard”),[2] from the same root as fast1.[2][7][8] Its cognates include Old Frisian festia, Dutch vasten, German fasten and Old Norse fasta,[3][6] and Gothic has fastan “to keep, observe; to fast”.[2][6] The noun is partly from Old Norse fasta (“a fast, a season for fasting”).[2][6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To abstain from food as a religious duty: Old English fæstan, recorded in 971.[3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline explains that the original Germanic sense, “to hold firmly”, developed through “to have firm control of oneself” to “to hold oneself to an observance”, perhaps translating Medieval Latin observare, or as a loan-translation of a Greek expression brought to the Goths by Arian missionaries.[2] The noun, an act of fasting, is from about 1200,[9] and a day or season of fasting from before 1300.[9] Break one's fast is the source of breakfast.[6]

Timeline

  • 971 – Old English fæstan.[3]
  • c. 1200 – noun, a fast.[9]
  • before 1300 – a day of fasting.[9]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To abstain from food, or from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.

Noun

  1. An act or period of fasting.

Word family

  • breakfast
  • fasting
  • avast

Usage notes

A mooring rope is a fast from about 1440, an alteration of Middle English fest, from Old Norse festr, from fastr “firm”.[4][9][6] The American Heritage Dictionary compares fast with rapid, swift, fleet, quick and hasty.[11]

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 m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin