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• fan
  fan

  noun

  any device for producing a current of air by the movement of a broad surface or a number of such surfaces.
• Fan
  Fan

  noun

  Fang.

fan

¹ American  

[fan] / fæn /

noun

1. any device for producing a current of air by the movement of a broad surface or a number of such surfaces.

2. an implement of feathers, leaves, paper, cloth, etc., often in the shape of a long triangle or of a semicircle, for waving lightly in the hand to create a cooling current of air about a person.

   We sat on the veranda, cooling ourselves with palm-leaf fans.

3. anything resembling such an implement, as the tail of a bird.

4. any of various devices consisting essentially of a series of radiating vanes or blades attached to and revolving with a central hublike portion to produce a current of air.

   ceiling fan; wall fan.

5. a series of revolving blades supplying air for winnowing or cleaning grain.

6. Horology. fly.

7. a semicircular decoration of bunting.

8. Physical Geography. an alluvial fan.

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verb (used with object)

• fans,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fanned,
  past participle,  past
• fanning
  present participle

1. to move or agitate (the air) with or as if with a fan.

2. to cause air to blow upon, as from a fan; cool or refresh with or as if with a fan.

   He fanned his face with a newspaper.

3. to stir to activity with or as if with a fan.

   to fan a flame; to fan emotions.

4. (of a breeze, current of air, etc.) to blow upon, as if driven by a fan.

   A cool breeze fanned the shore.

5. to spread out like a fan.

   The dealer fanned the cards.

6. Informal. to move (oneself ) quickly.

   You'll fan your tail out of here if you know what's good for you.

7. Agriculture. to winnow, especially by an artificial current of air.

8. Baseball. (of a pitcher) to strike out (a batter).

9. Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. to punish by spanking; spank.

   Your mother will fan you good if you break that dish.

verb (used without object)

• fans,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fanned,
  past participle,  past
• fanning
  present participle

1. to strike, swing, or brush lightly at something.

2. Western U.S. (chiefly cowboy use). to slap the flanks of (a horse or other animal) repeatedly with a hat to get it to move or move faster.

3. to spread out like a fan (often followed byout ).

   The forest fire fanned out in all directions.

4. Baseball. (of a batter) to strike out, usually by swinging at and missing the pitch charged as the third strike.

idioms

1. hit the fan, to become suddenly more awkward, embarrassing, or troublesome.

   When news of the incident was leaked to the press, everything hit the fan at once.

fan ² American  

[fan] / fæn /

noun

1. an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc..

   a baseball fan; a great fan of Charlie Chaplin.

   Synonyms:

   addict, booster, partisan, enthusiast, supporter

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Fan ³ American  

[fan, fahn] / fæn, fɑn /

noun

• Fans,
  plural
• Fan
  plural

1. Fang.

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fan ¹ British  

/ fæn /

noun

1. 1. any device for creating a current of air by movement of a surface or number of surfaces, esp a rotating device consisting of a number of blades attached to a central hub

   2. a machine that rotates such a device

2. any of various hand-agitated devices for cooling onself, esp a collapsible semicircular series of flat segments of paper, ivory, etc

3. something shaped like such a fan, such as the tail of certain birds

4. agriculture

   1. a kind of basket formerly used for winnowing grain

   2. a machine equipped with a fan for winnowing or cleaning grain

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verb

1. to cause a current of air, esp cool air, to blow upon, as by means of a fan

   to fan one's face

2. to agitate or move (air, smoke, etc) with or as if with a fan

3. to make fiercer, more ardent, etc

   fan one's passion

4. to spread out or cause to spread out in the shape of a fan

5. 1. to fire (an automatic gun) continuously by keeping the trigger depressed

   2. to fire (a nonautomatic gun) several times by repeatedly chopping back the hammer with the palm

6. to winnow (grain) by blowing the chaff away from it

fan ² British  

/ fæn /

noun

1. an ardent admirer of a pop star, film actor, football team, etc

2. a devotee of a sport, hobby, etc

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fan More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing fan

• shit will hit the fan

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Usage

Where does fan come from? Is the word fan, as in a device with rotating blades, related in any way to a fan, as in an enthusiastic devotee? Whether in cooling a room or cheering for a team, both fans do move a lot of air, as it were. But no, these senses of fan come from very different—though equally fantastic—roots. Fan, the deviceLet’s start with fan in the sense of “any device for producing a current of air.” This fan is very old, recorded in English before 900. It comes from the Old English, fann, directly from the Latin vannus, a “winnowing basket.”Winnowing basket? This calls for a lesson in agricultural history. A winnowing basket is a type of broad, shallow basket used to winnow, that is, to free grain from lighter particles of chaff, dirt, and the like. This can be done, as shown in the video below, by tossing the grain, allowing the wind or a forced current of air to blow away the chaff and any impurities. A winnowing basket is what fan originally meant in English. The word fan expanded to refer to other kinds of devices used to blow away chaff. By association with the movement of air involved in winnowing, fan further expanded to name various devices for generating currents of air, especially for cooling and ventilation. Fan, the devotee Now, onto to that other fan, the kind that fills arenas for sporting and music events. This fan is “an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, or similar.” It was shortened from fanatic, “a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.”A fan is passionate, yes, but compared to a fanatic, the connotation of the word fan is generally much less extreme and uncritical. Fan was first recorded in American English around 1885–90. Early uses of fan refer to baseball die-hards before spreading to all sorts of other ardent followers. Dig deeperThe word fanatic has an interesting origin of its own. Entering English around 1515–25, fanatic derives from the Latin fānāticus, “pertaining to a temple.” Fānāticus came to refer to people seen as “frantic” and “enthusiastic”—people thought to be inspired by a divinity or orgiastic rites. Fānāticus is based on the noun fānum, “temple, sanctuary.” Discover more at profane.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fanner
  noun
• fanlike
  adjective
• unfanned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Fan
  plural
• Fans
  plural

Participles

• fanning
  present
• fanned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fan
  simple
• fans
  simple
• have fanned
  perfect
• has fanned
  perfect
• am fanning
  progressive
• are fanning
  progressive
• is fanning
  progressive
• have been fanning
  perfect progressive
• has been fanning
  perfect progressive

Past

• fanned
  simple
• had fanned
  perfect
• was fanning
  progressive
• were fanning
  progressive
• had been fanning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fan
  simple
• will have fanned
  perfect
• will be fanning
  progressive
• will have been fanning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fan¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English fann, from Latin vannus “winnowing basket”

Origin of fan²

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90; short for fanatic

Explanation

A fan cools you by moving the air around you. During the warmest weeks of the summer, it's easier to sleep if you have a fan in your bedroom. Some fans are electric: you plug them in and a large blade turns fast and blows air around the room. Hand fans are small enough to hold, and as you wave them back and forth, they send puffs of air over your hot face. To do this is to fan yourself. A completely different fan is the one who follows a sports team or a rock band devotedly: "The fans jumped to their feet and cheered."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fan Fan Fans fans fanned fanning

“Phil made such an effort to be everyone’s best friend. It’s jarring to have someone perform the role the opposite way,” said Chris Plante, host of the videogame fan podcast “Post Games.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

“We do research of whichever state we’re working with — like, what are the local sports teams someone might be a fan of?” says Susie Mancini, the show’s production designer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

The chanting was condemned by one fan group as a "stain on our game".

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Peter, a 51-year-old Kenyan country music fan whose son is in the US Navy, spent 25 years in Dallas, Texas, and only found out where he was going "halfway through the flight".

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

Aunt Maud shook her cardboard fan in the air.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

It described the incident, near Llyn y Fan Fawr in the west of the park, as "one of the worst" it had seen, following on from long-running wildfires in the area.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

A longtime Hengli employee told a state-owned newspaper that Fan, who handled the finances, was so busy that she sometimes skipped meals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Chen and Fan decided it would be better if Hengli made PTA itself—which meant building its own major refinery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

But what really made Platner appealing to Moraff and Fan didn’t have anything to do with the kind of person he was or what was, or wasn’t, on his résumé.

From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026

Several other classmates laughed and gathered around An Yi and Yang Fan.

From "Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution" by Ji-li Jiang

Fans of Crown Royal probably don’t need to start searching for alternatives.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

Fans of Rosales’ art and archival Instagram accounts will be pleased to find that her rasquache sensibility is present from glossy cover to glossy cover.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Fans have also been busy putting forward their own suggestions for potential titles.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

Fans of another 1980s franchise, “Die Hard,” will be pleased to note there is also a part for Reginald VelJohnson, who played John McClane’s cop buddy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Fans are drawn from colorful bags, fluttering like tropical birds.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Some 40,000 fans are expected at the tournament over the weekend, with six-time major winner and current world number two Rory McIlroy the main draw.

From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026

It is seemingly used by some fans on social media to reflect the way Mbappe dominates matches, while others have suggested it refers to his influence at clubs.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

“They are unabashed theater fans and lovely people.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

But maybe, just maybe, Marvel fans are feeling a nagging sense of discontent, too.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

Two pairs of white ladies came in, and along with the usual fans and vases, I sold a large tabletop brass gong.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

That has eased pressure on markets after last week's spike fanned inflation fears and sent the yield on long-dated US Treasuries to their highest since 2007, just before the global financial crisis.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

Tucakovic said the firestorm burned through "everything in their path" as officials confirmed flames, fanned by strong winds, engulfed 1,000 hectares in just four hours.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Investigators fanned out to local Walmart stores, scouring surveillance video and receipts but found no suspects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

Yet, fires fanned by increasingly extreme weather have stress-tested these measures more than ever before.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

“Oh my,” Nan said and fanned the air.

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

And more worryingly, retail diesel prices remain at a record high around $5.90 a gallon, fanning concerns about inflation as global financial markets are under strain from a bond selloff and U.S. dollar weakness.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

Markets have been shaken this week as the Middle East crisis sent crude surging around 10 percent, fanning inflation concerns and putting pressure on central banks to raise interest rates.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

On an overcast Wednesday morning in Salt Lake City this summer, four bicyclists gathered in an industrial area not far from the city’s airport before fanning out across town.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

The decline came as the profit fell short of some bullish investor expectations, fanning fears about the durability of the AI boom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

For several minutes I did nothing as the water flowed into the hall, fanning over the oak floorboards, running toward the bedrooms and down the stairs.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Related Words

• admirer
• buff
• devotee
• follower
• lover
• supporter