Etymograph

English

fan

Fan (device) comes from Middle English fan, from Old English fann ‘winnowing fan’, from Latin vannus, from PIE *h₂weh₁- ‘to blow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂weh₁-1‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvannus1‘fan for winnowing grain’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150fann1‘a winnowing fan’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fan1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611fan1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English fan
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “The oxen likewise and the yong asses that eare…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂weh₁-Wiktionary, English fan‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvannusWiktionary, English fan‘fan for winnowing grain’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150fannWiktionary, English fan‘a winnowing fan’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fanWiktionary, English fan
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611fanWiktionary, English fan. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “The oxen likewise and the yong asses that eare…”

Explore everything descended from *h₂weh₁- →

Another origin of fan

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-‘to do’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfānāticu
  3. English1500–presentfanatic
  4. Englishtodayfan

Possibly influenced by fancy (‘group of sport or hobby enthusiasts’), i.e. fancy boy (‘fan’).

Another origin of fan

  1. Cantonesemodern分
  2. Englishtodayfan

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Today it means

noun A hand-held device consisting of concertinaed material, or slats of material, gathered together at one end, that may be opened out into the shape of a sector of a circle and waved back and forth in order to move air towards oneself and cool oneself.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fan”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- / fan