fag
English
Pronunciation
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.
- (Britain, Ireland, Australia, 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 wet 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,
- (Britain, 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.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
cigarette
Etymology 2
Akin to flag (“droop, tire”). Compare Dutch vaak (“sleepiness”).
Noun
fag (plural fags)
- (Britain, dated, colloquial) A chore: an arduous and tiresome task.
- 1818, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, 1992, Complete Works of Jane Austen, p. 123:
- We are sadly off in the country; not but what we have very good shops in Salisbury, but it is so far to go—eight miles is a long way; Mr. Allen says it is nine, measured nine; but I am sure it cannot be more than eight; and it is such a fag—I come back tired to death.
- 1818, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, 1992, Complete Works of Jane Austen, p. 123:
- (Britain, education, archaic, colloquial) A younger student acting as a servant for senior students.
- 1791, Richard Cumberland, The Observer, Vol. 4, page 67:
- I had the character at ſchool of being the very beſt fag that ever came into it.
- 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 18:
- A gang of fags was mobbing about by the notice-boards. They fell silent as he approached. He patted one of them on the head. ‘Pretty children,’ he sighed, digging into his waistcoat pocket and pulling out a handful of change. ‘Tonight you shall eat.’ Scattering the coins at their feet, he moved on.
- 1791, Richard Cumberland, The Observer, Vol. 4, page 67:
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.
- (intransitive, Britain, education, archaic, colloquial) For a younger student to act as a servant for senior students in many British boarding schools.
- (transitive, Britain, education, archaic, colloquial) To have (a younger student) act as a servant in this way.
- (intransitive, Britain, archaic) To work hard, especially on menial chores.
- 1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 1, in Jane Eyre[2], HTML edition:
- This state of things should have been to me a paradise of peace, accustomed as I was to a life of ceaseless reprimand and thankless fagging; but, in fact, my racked nerves were now in such a state that no calm could soothe, and no pleasure excite them agreeably.
Derived terms
- (to act as a servant): fagger, faggery, fagging (as a noun), fagmaster
- (to tire): fagged out
Etymology 3
From faggot.
Noun
fag (plural fags)
- (chiefly US, Canada, vulgar, usually offensive, sometimes endearing) A homosexual man, especially (usually derogatory) an especially effeminate or unusual one.
- 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[3], 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.). ...
- 2006, Lynn Mickelsen, Confusion Turned to Chaos:
- A couple of days later, Trisha tells Madelyn there is a rumor going around that she's a fag.
- 2008, Paul Ryan Brewer, Value war: public opinion and the politics of gay rights, →ISBN, 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.
- (US, vulgar, offensive) An annoying person.
- Why did you do that, you fag?
Usage notes
In North America, fag is often considered highly offensive, although some gay people have tried to reclaim it. (Compare faggot.) The humorousness of derived terms fag hag and fag stag is sometimes considered to lessen their offensiveness.
Synonyms
- (male homosexual): See Thesaurus:homosexual person
- (annoying person): See Thesaurus:jerk
Derived terms
Translations
homosexual man
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Anagrams
Aromanian
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Latin fāgus. Compare Romanian fag.
Noun
fag m (plural fadz)
Derived terms
Related terms
Danish
Etymology
From German Fach (“compartment, drawer, subject”), from Old High German fah (“wall”).
Pronunciation
Noun
fag n (singular definite faget, plural indefinite fag)
- subject (of study)
- trade, craft, profession
- bay (the distance between two vertical or horizontal supports in roofs and walls)
Derived terms
Inflection
Declension of fag
Icelandic
Etymology
Borrowed from Danish fag, itself a borrowing from German Fach.
Pronunciation
Noun
fag n (genitive singular fags, nominative plural fög)
- subject (particular area of study)
Declension
declension of fag
Synonyms
- (subject): námsgrein
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Middle Low German or German Low German fak; compare with German Fach
Noun
fag n (definite singular faget, indefinite plural fag, definite plural faga or fagene)
- subject (e.g., at school)
- profession, trade, discipline
Derived terms
References
- “fag” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Middle Low German or German Low German fak; compare with German Fach
Noun
fag n (definite singular faget, indefinite plural fag, definite plural faga)
- subject (e.g., at school)
- profession, trade, discipline
Derived terms
References
- “fag” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Polish
Pronunciation
Noun
fag m anim
Declension
Declension of fag
Romanian
Etymology 1
From Latin fāgus, from Proto-Italic *fāgos, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵos (“beech tree”).
Noun
fag m (plural fagi)
Declension
Declension of fag
Related terms
Etymology 2
From Latin favus, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to swell, grow, thrive, be, live, dwell”).
Noun
fag n (plural faguri)
Synonyms
Welsh
Etymology 1
Pronunciation
Noun
fag
- Soft mutation of bag.
Mutation
| Welsh mutation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| radical | soft | nasal | aspirate |
| bag | fag | mag | unchanged |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. | |||
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
Noun
fag
- Soft mutation of mag.
Mutation
| Welsh mutation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| radical | soft | nasal | aspirate |
| mag | fag | unchanged | unchanged |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. | |||