Wordul · all words

adjective · 2 syllables · /'fæn.si/

FANCY

What does "FANCY" mean?

Elaborate or decorative rather than plain and ordinary.

Meanings

  1. Ornate, elaborate, or showily refined. They booked a fancy restaurant for the anniversary.
  2. A whim, a passing inclination, or the faculty of imagination. He bought the hat on a fancy and never wore it.
  3. To feel a desire or liking for; to be attracted to. Do you fancy a cup of tea? informal
  4. To imagine or suppose. Fancy meeting you here after all these years. informal

Did you know?

  • 'Fancy' is literally a shrunken 'fantasy' - the same Greek root 'phantasia' that gives us imagination got squeezed down into a word now used for crystal glassware.

Word origin

A contraction of 'fantasy', from Greek 'phantasia' meaning 'appearance, imagination', via Latin and Old French; the long word collapsed into the short one in the 15th century.

Remember it

FANCY = FAN + CY: imagine a peacock's FAN, the fanciest thing it owns.

A little poem

Gold rim on the cup-
the same tea inside, warming
the same tired hands.

haiku

Wordplay

  • Do you fancy this restaurant? It's so fancy even the imagination is à la carte.

What it teaches

Ornament can dress a thing up, but it can never change what the thing actually is.

Quick facts

What does FANCY mean?

Elaborate or decorative rather than plain and ordinary.

Is FANCY a valid word?

Yes — FANCY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.

How many letters is FANCY?

FANCY has 5 letters and 2 syllables.

Where does FANCY come from?

A contraction of 'fantasy', from Greek 'phantasia' meaning 'appearance, imagination', via Latin and Old French; the long word collapsed into the short one in the 15th century.

What can FANCY teach us?

Ornament can dress a thing up, but it can never change what the thing actually is.

How players do

Be the first to solve it.

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