fag
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -æɡ
Etymology 1
Probably from fag end (“remnant”), from Middle English fagge (“flap”)
Noun
fag (plural fags)
- (US, technical) In textile inspections, a rough or coarse defect in the woven fabric.
- (US, technical) A photovoltaic cell that is no longer in use.
- (UK, Ireland, colloquial, dated in US and Canada) A cigarette.
- 1968 January 25, The Bulletin, Oregon,
- He′d Phase Out Fag Industry
- Los Angeles (UPI) - A UCLA professor has called for the phasing out of the cigarette industry by converting tobacco acres to other crops.
- 2001, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, Alfred A. Knopf (2001), 15,
- All of them, like my mother, were heavy smokers, and after warming themselves by the fire, they would sit on the sofa and smoke, lobbing their web fag ends into the fire.
- 2011, Bill Marsh, Great Australian Shearing Stories, unnumbered page,
- So I started off by asking the shearers if they minded if I took a belly off while they were having a fag. Then after a while they were asking me. They′d say, ‘Do yer wanta take over fer a bit while I have a fag?’ And then I got better and I′d finish the sheep and they′d say ‘Christ, I haven′t finished me bloody fag yet, yer may as well shear anotherie.’
- 1968 January 25, The Bulletin, Oregon,
- (UK, obsolete, colloquial) The worst part or end of a thing.
- 1788, William Perry editor, The Royal standard English dictionary[1]:
- Fag, s. the worst part or end of anything.
- 1788, William Perry editor, The Royal standard English dictionary[1]:
Synonyms
Translations
Etymology 2
Probably alteration of flag (“droop, tire”)
Noun
fag (plural fags)
- (UK, colloquial) A chore; an arduous and tiresome task.
- (UK, archaic, colloquial) Term used in UK public schools for a younger student acting as a servant for senior students.
-
- "I had the character at school of being the very best fag that ever came into it." - Richard Cumberland’s The Observer of 1785
-
Verb
fag (third-person singular simple present fags, present participle fagging, simple past and past participle fagged)
- (transitive, colloquial, used mainly in passive form) To make exhausted, tired out.
- (intransitive, colloquial) To droop; to tire.
- (UK, archaic, colloquial) For a younger student to act as a servant for senior students in UK public schools.
Etymology 3
From faggot
Noun
fag (plural fags)
- (vulgar, offensive) A homosexual person, especially a male.
- 1921 John Lind, The Female Impersonators (Historical Documentation of American Slang v. 1, A-G, edited by Jonathan E. Lighter (New York: Random House, 1994) page 716.
- Androgynes known as “fairies,” “fags,” or “brownies.”
- 1926, American Neurological Association; New York Neurological Association et al, Journal of nervous and mental disease, volume 94, page 467:
- In schizophrenics, however, the homosexual outlet is sooner or later ... ideas that strangers call them "cs," "fairy," "woman," "fag," " fruit," etc.). ...
- 2008, Paul Ryan Brewer, Value war: public opinion and the politics of gay rights[2], ISBN 0742562115, 9780742562110, page 60:
- ... what appeared to be overt appeals to anti-gay sentiment. When House Majority Whip Dick Armey referred to fellow Congressman Barney Frank as "Barney Fag" in 1995, he suffered a barage of negative publicity that prompted him to explain his choice of words as a slip of the tongue.
- 1921 John Lind, The Female Impersonators (Historical Documentation of American Slang v. 1, A-G, edited by Jonathan E. Lighter (New York: Random House, 1994) page 716.
- (colloquial, disparaging) A particularly conspicuous non-straight-acting homosexual male.
- (US, colloquial, vulgar, pejorative) An annoying person.
- Why did you do that, you fag?
Usage notes
When used in North America to describe a homosexual male, fag can be a very offensive and vulgar term, but not as offensive and vulgar as faggot. However, the term may be used in an affectionate and good-natured manner among homosexual men themselves. In particular, the derived terms fag hag and fag stag may still be offensive, but are less often assumed to be so by default, and can often be the primary terms for "straight female friend of gay men" and "straight male friend of gay men" respectively.
As LGBT people have become more socially mainstreamed in many societies, the term fag has also come to mean a homosexual male who is particularly conspicuous, such that they cannot or will not pass for straight-acting. This may possibly imply effeminacy, flamboyance or homoerotic machismo, but need not necessarily imply any of these things so long the personality is conspicuously homosexual. This definition of fag can sometimes have a derogatory connotation within the gay community because of the politics of straight-acting in mainstream society, and the sociopolitical question of whether gay men must be seen as straight-acting to enjoy mainstream tolerance. But there are also neutral and affectionate uses of this definition, chiefly among friends and allies in the context of accepting a non-straight-acting personality as benign, particularly if it is sincere and unpretentious.
Derived terms
Synonyms
- (male homosexual): faggot, fairy, homo, queer
- (male homosexual friend): bro, pal
- (annoying person): ass, asshole, dick, jerk, prick, putz, schmuck
- (conspicuous homosexual):
Translations
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Danish
Etymology
From German Fach (“compartment, drawer, subject”), from Old High German fah (“wall”).
Noun
fag n (singular definite faget, plural indefinite fag)
Inflection
| neuter gender | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative, dative and accusative | fag | faget | fag | fagene |
| genitive | fags | fagets | fags | fagenes |
Icelandic
Pronunciation
- IPA: [faːx]
Noun
fag n (genitive singular fags, plural fög)
- subject (particular area of study)
Declension
Romanian
Etymology 1
From Latin fāgus.
Noun
- beech (tree of Fagus family)
Declension
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gender m | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation |
| nominative/accusative | un fag | fagul | niște fagi | fagii |
| genitive/dative | unui fag | fagului | unor fagi | fagilor |
Etymology 2
From Latin favus.
Noun
fag n (plural faguri)