Fandom

How to spell fandom

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fandom

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fandom mean?

1. nounThe collective community of enthusiastic admirers of a particular person, team, show, or franchise, along with its shared culture.

Fandom in a sentence

• The show built a devoted fandom that spans dozens of countries.

• Online fandom often produces its own artwork, fiction, and conventions.

Where does fandom come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a modern English coinage that joins two very different parts. The first element, 'fan', is a clipped form of 'fanatic', which goes back to the Latin fanaticus, meaning 'inspired by a god' or 'belonging to a temple', from fanum, a temple; the sense narrowed over time to describe someone with intense, almost religious enthusiasm, and Americans shortened it to 'fan' in the late 1800s, especially in sporting contexts. The second element, '-dom', is a thoroughly native suffix inherited from Old English, where it meant 'state, condition, or domain', the same ending that gives us 'kingdom', 'freedom', and 'wisdom'. Stitched together, fandom literally means 'the realm or collective body of fans', and it appeared in print around the early twentieth century. The word gained huge currency in the internet age to describe communities built around films, books, music, and games. The spelling is straightforward once you remember it is simply 'fan' plus the familiar 'dom' of 'kingdom'.

How the word is built

• fan (shortened from fanatic: an enthusiast)
• -dom (state, domain, or collective body)