fan

/fæn/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/fan/

fan noun: a hand-held device consisting of concertinaed material, or slats of material, gathered together at one end, that may be opened out into the shape of a sector of a circle and waved back and forth in order to move air towards oneself and cool oneself.

Image: George Barbier, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

fan (plural fans)

A hand-held device consisting of concertinaed material, or slats of material, gathered together at one end, that may be opened out into the shape of a sector of a circle and waved back and forth in order to move air towards oneself and cool oneself.
- How apt is the flutter of the fan to express the different affections of the belle: there is the angry flutter, the modest flutter, the timorous flutter, the confused flutter etc.1876, August Paul, Addison's Influence on the Social Reform of His Age, T.G. Meissner, page 55
An electrical or mechanical device for moving air, used for cooling people, machinery, etc.
- He didn't switch on the fan because the temperature was 15 degrees Celsius.
The action of fanning; agitation of the air.
- "If I cannot be of service, then I certainly don't wish to impose," said McGinty, with a quick fan of breeze that indicated a sweeping bow.1998, Brock Thoene, Bodie Thoene, A New Frontier: Saga of the Sierras, page 181
Anything resembling a hand-held fan in shape, e.g., a peacock’s tail.
An instrument for winnowing grain, by moving which the grain is tossed and agitated, and the chaff is separated and blown away.
- The oxen likewise and the yong asses that eare the ground, shall eate cleane prouender which hath bene winnowed with the shouell and with the fanne.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 30:24
- Whose fanne is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floore, and gather his wheat into the garner: but wil burne vp the chaffe with vnquenchable fire.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 3:12
A small vane or sail, used to keep the large sails of a smock mill always in the direction of the wind.
A group of overlapping cards exposed in various patience games.
A section of a tree having a finite number of branches.

Verb

fan (third-person singular simple present fans, present participle fanning, simple past and past participle fanned)

(transitive) To blow air on (something) by means of a fan (hand-held, mechanical or electrical) or otherwise.
- We enjoyed standing at the edge of the cliff, being fanned by the wind.
- Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: […]1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “The Pool of Tears”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 19
(transitive) To slap (a behind, especially).
- Part of it was that as much as I respected filial devotion and as much as I liked Sarah Barstow, it would have been a real satisfaction to put her across my knees and pull up her skirts and giver^([sic]) her a swell fanning, for not taking a look at that driver.1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 148
(intransitive, usually to fan out) To move or spread in multiple directions from one point, in the shape of a hand-held fan.
(transitive) To dispel by waving a hand-held fan.
- I attempted to fan the disagreeable odour out of the room.
(transitive) To perform a maneuver that involves flicking the top rear of an old-style gun.
- To fan a single action revolver, hold down the trigger and strike the hammer repeatedly with a free hand.2011, Hans-Christoan Vortisch, GURPS Tactical Shooting, page 14
(figuratively) To invigorate, like flames when fanned.
- She comes, to fan my ardour, She kills me with her kisses.1923, Arthur Symons, Love's Cruelty, page 43
To winnow grain.
- By the first article, these fanning mills were appointed to be sent to the proprietors of the mills of Sault-à-la puce, Petit-Pré, Beauport, Pointe de Lévy, St. Nicolas and Ste. Famille in the isle of Orleans " to have all the wheat in general of whatever quality sent to these mills passed and...1856, François Réal Angers Lelièvre, Lower Canada reports
(transitive) To apply (the air brake) many times in rapid succession.
- Fanning the brakes results in the gradual depletion of the pressure in the cars' brake reservoirs, which can eventually cause a loss of all braking.
(intransitive) To strike out.
(transitive) To strike out (a batter).
(intransitive) To fail to properly shoot or pass the puck.

Noun (2)

fan (plural fans or (colloquial) fen)

A person who is fond of something or someone, especially an admirer of a performer or aficionado of a sport.
- I am a big fan of libraries.
- I am a big fan of cricket.

Noun (3)

fan (plural fan)

(Hong-Kong, dated) A unit of length, equivalent to 0.1 tsun (0.01 chek), or 0.00371475 metres.
- 1 chek (foot) = 14⅝ English inches divided into 10 tsün (inches) and each tsün into ten fan or tenths.1939, chapter XI, in Colonial Reports - Annual Issues, page 37

Proper noun (1) capitalized: FAN

FAN

The station code of Fanling in Hong Kong.

Noun (4) capitalized: FAN

FAN (countable and uncountable, plural FANs)

(abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of file area network.
(abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of free amino nitrogen, amino acids available for yeast metabolism.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Fan

Fan

A diminutive of Frances.
- I see now what brings you about our house so much. You want to get hold of Fan and her business and little savings for yourself, do you?1870, Thomas Wright, The bane of a life, volume 2, page 109
- Listen, Fan. That cowardly, sickly little boy you fought for in the street, that day in Winnebago, showed every sign of growing up a cowardly, sickly man.1917, Edna Ferber, Fanny Herself, page 173

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Fan

Fan

A county of Puyang, Henan, China.
- In a report boasting of the rich supply of commodities in Fan County of Honan Province , the Peiping Ta Kung Pao of 1 December 1965 pointed out: “ Within 10 days before the autumn festival of this year, the commercial organs in Fan County[...]1966, Tien-chien Hwang, Communist China's Setbacks and Internal Tensions in 1965, volume 2, →OCLC, →OL, page 34
- In a commune in Fanxian county, Henan province, a low-incidence area, two cases of pharyngoesophageal cancer were detected among 11,399 chickens over 6 months of age, showing an incidence rate of 17.55 per 100,000.[1980, Li Mingxin (Li Min-Hsin), Li Ping, Li Baorong (Li Pao-Jung), “Recent Progress in Research on Esophageal Cancer in China”, in Advances in Cancer Research, volume 33, Academic Press, →ISBN...
A surname from Mandarin.

fan meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

fan in Hindi

hand-held device: पंखा paṅkhā
electrical device: पंखा paṅkhā
admirer: प्रशंसक praśansak

fan in Tamil

hand-held device: விசிறி viciṟi
electrical device: மின்விசிறி miṉviciṟi
anything resembling a hand-held fan: விசிறி viciṟi
to blow air on by means of an electric fan: அடி aṭi

fan in Urdu

hand-held device: مِروَحَہ mirvaha, پَن٘کھا paṅkhā
electrical device: پَن٘کھا paṅkhā
admirer: دِل دادَہ dil dāda

fan in Bengali

electrical device: ফ্যান phên
admirer: সমর্থক śomorthok

More languagesFewer languages

fan in Malayalam: വിശറി viśaṟi, ഫാൻ phāṉ, പങ്ക paṅka, ആരാധകൻ ārādhakaṉ
fan in Kannada: ಫ್ಯಾನ್, ಅಭಿಮಾನಿ
fan in Gujarati: પંખો paṅkho, પ્રશંસક praśãsak, ચાહક cāhak, સમર્થક samarthak
fan in Sinhala: විදුලි පංකාව widuli paṁkāwa, රසිකයා rasikayā
fan in Assamese: বিচনী bisoni, ফেন phen, বিচ bis
fan in Nepali: फ्यान
fan in Pashto: پکه paka
fan in Tagalog: pamaypay, abaniko, bentilador, magbentilador
fan in Arabic: مِرْوَحَة mirwaḥa, مروحة marwaḥa, هَوَّايَة hawwāya, مُشَجِّع mušajjiʕ
fan in Malay: kipas, kipas angin, elektrik, peminat
fan in Indonesian: kipas, kipas angin, mengipasi, penyuka
fan in Persian: پَکَه دَسْتِی paka dastī, بادْبِزَن bâdbezan, مِرْوَحِه mervahe, فَن fan
fan in Thai: พัด pát, พัดลม pát-lom, แฟน fɛɛn, สาวก sǎa-wók
fan in Vietnamese: quạt, quạt tay, quạt máy, người hâm mộ
fan in Myanmar: ယပ် yap, ပန်ကာ panka, လေရဟတ် lera.hat

Examples of fan in a sentence

The fans cheered on the face as he made his comeback.
Fans speculate that she was forced to graduate due to harassment and doxxing by stalkers and haters.
The band played their hit song to the delight of the fans.

All 40 example sentences with fan

Synonyms of fan

8 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of fan

Forms of fan

Noun
plural	fans
plural	fan
plural	FANs
plural (colloquial)	fen
Verb
third-person singular present	fans
present participle	fanning
past participle	fanned
past	fanned

Past tense of fan: fanned

Plural of fan: fans

Origin of fan

Inherited from Middle English fan, inherited from Old English fann (“a winnowing, fan”), derived from Latin vannus (“fan for winnowing grain”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”). Cognates * Latin ventus (“wind”) * Dutch wan (“winnowing basket”) * German Wanne (“winnowing basket”) * Swedish vanna (“a fan for winnowing”) * Old English windwian (“to fan, winnow”). More at winnow.

Clipping of fanatic, originally in US baseball slang. Possibly influenced by fancy (“group of sport or hobby enthusiasts”), i.e. fancy boy (“fan”).

From Cantonese 分. Doublet of fen and hoon.

Words formed from fan

Phrases with fan

84 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with fan

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fan

What does fan mean?: Fan means a hand-held device consisting of concertinaed material, or slats of material, gathered together at one end, that may be opened out into the shape of a sector of a circle and waved back and forth in order to move air towards oneself and cool oneself.
What is fan in Hindi?: Fan in Hindi is पंखा (paṅkhā), प्रशंसक (praśansak). See Fan meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is fan?: Fan can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce fan?: Fan is pronounced /fæn/ (UK).
What is the plural of fan?: The plural of fan is fans.

Words near fan in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: fan (page history and authors); FAN (page history and authors); Fan (page history and authors); fan (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fan (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fan.wav.

Cite this entry: “fan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.