fan

Forms

fan m or f by sense (plural fans)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English fan, recorded in English from 1879 as a clipping of fanatic.^[2][3][4][5] Nocentini takes the English word from French fanatique, which, like Italian fanatico, goes back to Latin fānāticus (“inspired by a god; belonging to a temple”), from fānum (“temple”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is 1933, in Paolo Monelli, who scorned the word: film writers who wanted to seem important used it, and they could have said fanatico, or borrowed tifoso from football.^[2][3] In 1942 Migliorini's appendix glossed it as one who is fanatical about film stars or football.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word was first linked to the cinema and to star actors, and then to singers and to the whole of show business.^[2][3] It is used for both men and women, mostly unchanged in the plural, though i fans is also written.^[3][8][9] The sense “supporter of a football team” is less common.^[3][10][11] The compound fan club is dated 1990.^[4]

Timeline

• 1879 – English fan is recorded as a clipping of fanatic.^[2][3]
• 1933 – Monelli records the word in Italian.^[2]
• 1942 – Migliorini's appendix records it as “fanatic for film stars or football”.^[2]
• 1990 – Fan club is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An enthusiastic admirer, especially of a star of film, music or television: All'uscita del teatro la aspettavano centinaia di fan.^[3][10][8]
2. (less common) A supporter of a sports team; a tifoso.^[3][10][11]

Word family

• fan club

Related words

• fanatico
• tifoso

Usage notes

It is pronounced /ˈfan/ in Italian, beside the English /fæn/.^[1][10][9] Fan is also a shortened poetic form of fanno, “they do”.^[1] GRADIT has a separate fan, the ethnic name of the Fang peoples of Gabon, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, recorded from 1892.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. fanatico
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli