# Does "fun" have an equivalent outside of English? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446 "2014-06-23T14:39:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/21 "2014-06-26T08:43:48Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > In Paris last year, I spent an hour or so with a young woman. My French is passable, she had some English, we had a good time and laughed a lot. When we parted, I wanted to tell her what a fun time I’d had. I realized I had no idea how to say it in French. Hmm… if you are suggesting what I think you are suggesting, perhaps “jouissance” might be appropriate 😉 ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/22 "2014-06-26T14:48:02Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Doesn’t “rolig” also mean “funny”? I remember hearing a Swedish person say something like “I had a funny time” which isn’t quite what he meant. Yep. It is one of the most common errors that Swedes make when speaking English. Amusingly, “rolig” in Danish means calm/quiet. I think part of the issue is that fun us both an adjective and a noun. “It was fun” versus “I had a fun time”. Many languages have defined forms for their adjectives and as such don’t have a word that can be used in so many ways. But anyway, in general, when someone says “\ is unique to \” they are generally wrong, as this entry to the Swedish Problems meme puts it: [![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lub4igqXqh1r46cv3o1_400.jpg) ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lub4igqXqh1r46cv3o1_400.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/23 "2014-06-26T18:33:05Z")
> [@Saturn\_Dreams](#): > > Sure it does. “Anata wa omoshiroi” literally means, “You’re fun”. The sentence you gave (although slightly grammatically incorrect), would mean, “He/She (a third party) seems like a fun person”. What’s the grammatically correct version? I’m aware that my Japanese is just slightly awkward, but people aren’t very willing to go grammar nazi verbally, so I’ve never gotten “fixed”. I’d understand, “Anata wa omoshiroi”, to mean “You’re interesting/funny” rather than “fun”. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/24 "2014-06-26T18:53:42Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > But anyway, in general, when someone says “\ is unique to \” they are generally wrong, as this entry to the Swedish Problems meme puts it: > > [Tumblr: Image](http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lub4igqXqh1r46cv3o1_400.jpg) Also, one has to be careful about extrapolating from a language to the world view of its speakers, although it’s always a tempting thing to do. Even if “fun” didn’t easily translate to other languages (which we’ve seen that it does, so it’s moot, but whatever), you can’t necessarily use that to support an argument that English speakers have some unique emotion or experience of fun. I recently started a thread bitching about how the English word “enjoy” can be difficult to translate to Norwegian. We need a bunch of different expression to cover the lexical space of “enjoy”, depending on the context. That doesn’t mean that we Norwegians don’t enjoy ourselves, or don’t grasp the concept. We do. We just say things differently. You certainly can’t claim that “fun” being both a noun and an adjective in English, while you might need different forms of a word, or different words, for the noun and the adjective in other languages, has some kind of deep cultural significance. That’s extrapolating way too much from a tiny linguistic blip. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/25 "2014-06-26T22:27:00Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > What’s the grammatically correct version? You’re missing ‘na’. Tanoshisou na hito. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/26 "2014-06-27T00:42:29Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The Hebrew word “kef” has, as far as I can tell, the exact same meaning as “fun” in English. It’s a modern (non-classical) Hebrew word, from the Arabic “kaif” - which I think also means fun, although I can’t vouch for its nuances. The Arabic word كَيْفَ \*kayfa _asks the question “how?”. Used for asking “How are you doing?” (Kayfa ḥāluk?, literally how is your state or condition). From that is derived the noun كَيْفٌ kayf (in North African dialect kīf),_ which in colloquial Arabic has come to mean a pleasant, gently euphoric state of well-being and feeling at ease and enjoying oneself. Unsurprisingly, the same word is a synonym for marijuana. The same root also gave rise to كَيْفِيّة \*kayfīyah \*‘the way how you do something’ and the verb كَيَّقِ \*kayyafa \*‘to condition’ (air), تِكْيِيفٌ _takyīf_ ‘air conditioning’, مُكَيِّفٌ \*mukayyif \*‘air conditioner’. The feeling of comfort, like in the noun \*kayf \*, is common to both meanings. \*hence “Keef Richards” ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/27 "2014-06-27T01:04:59Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > What’s the grammatically correct version? I’m aware that my Japanese is just slightly awkward, but people aren’t very willing to go grammar nazi verbally, so I’ve never gotten “fixed”. hibernicus got it. You’re missing the adjective connector, “na”. I understand about how Japanese wouldn’t correct your grammar. They’re happy you can say “konnichiwa”. Some are still amazed that Westerners can use chopsticks　;) > [@](#): > > I’d understand, “Anata wa omoshiroi”, to mean “You’re interesting/funny” rather than “fun”. It can mean both, depending on what precipitated that comment. If you told a funny story and someone said, “Anata wa omoshiroi”, it would mean, “You’re funny”. If it was said not as a comment after some certain action, but rather as a general statement, it would mean, “You’re fun/interesting”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/28 "2014-06-29T01:39:14Z")
In Italian, fun is \*divertimento \*(which the musically inclined among you may recognize as a musical form). Divertimento comes from the Latin prefix _di(s)_- meaning ‘apart’, and the Latin root _vert_- meaning ‘turn’. Literally something that turns off your mundane cares and replaces it with enjoyment. Like taking a break from your usual cares. I think “_divertimento_” denotes the referent adequately, though perhaps looking from another angle. English \*fun \*may derive from a Norse word for ‘fool, simpleton’, i.e. ‘buoyant, high-flying person’, derived from _fáni_ ‘flag’, which in turn derives from a Germanic root meaning ‘piece of cloth’. Or it may mean girl. That’s right, fun=girl. All I can do is quote Wiktionary’s remarkable etymology: Alternative etymology connects Middle English _fonne_ to Old Frisian _fonna, fone, fomne_, variant forms of Old Frisian _fāmne, fēmne_ (“young woman, virgin”), from Proto-Germanic \*_faimnijǭ_ (“maiden”), from Proto-Indo-European \*_peymen_- (“girl”), \*_poymen_- (“breast milk”). If so, then cognate with Old English _fǣmne_ (“maid, virgin, damsel, bride”), West Frisian _famke_ (“girl”), Eastern Frisian _fone, fon_ (“woman, maid, servant," also "weakling, simpleton”). At first I was wondering how “Girls just want to have fun derived from them” might scan to the melody, but then I saw it’s the Eastern Frisians who transfer a chain of meanings from ‘girl’ to ‘weakling’ to ‘simpleton, fool’ to ‘indulgence in enjoyment’. _[sigh]_ Like so much else in histories, language and otherwise, you keep dredging up common everyday stuff that historically originates from misogyny. Incidentally, the adjective _fond_ also derives from the same Middle English word for fool, _fonne_. So which is it? [Buoyant, high flying person](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/90/RWS_Tarot_00_Fool.jpg/220px-RWS_Tarot_00_Fool.jpg)? Or girl? Who’s the fool? Girl ain’t no fool, uh-uh. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/29 "2014-06-29T01:51:38Z")
Bengali has [kʰæla] for “play” and [mɔd͡ʒa] and [anond̯o] for “fun.” There are probably several other terms for both, each with various shades of meaning. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/30 "2014-06-30T15:17:03Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > You certainly can’t claim that “fun” being both a noun and an adjective in English, while you might need different forms of a word, or different words, for the noun and the adjective in other languages, has some kind of deep cultural significance. That’s extrapolating way too much from a tiny linguistic blip. I wasn’t. Maybe I wasn’t clear, I was using that as an example as to why some people might _think_ that it is different, not as an argument that it _is_ different. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/31 "2014-07-02T02:21:28Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > The Scandinavian languages have “sjov” in Danish, “rolig” or “kul” in Swedish, and “moro” or “gøy” in Norwegian. > > They all have pretty much the exact same meaning as the English “fun”. > > (It’s also one of those relatively rare words that the Scandinavian languages differ completely on. Don’t know what’s up with that. Anyway.) Clearly they didn’t learn how to have fun until after the languages had diverged! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/32 "2014-07-02T05:30:10Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I wasn’t. Maybe I wasn’t clear, I was using that as an example as to why some people might _think_ that it is different, not as an argument that it _is_ different. No, I’m sorry, I wasn’t picking on you. Just tossing the point out there. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/33 "2014-07-02T05:48:44Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > No, I’m sorry, I wasn’t picking on you. Just tossing the point out there. Actually, just to make myself more clear (something I’m not always to good at :p): I was agreeing with you, and expanding on your point. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/34 "2014-07-02T07:31:59Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > He also throws out a quote from an older book that claims that no other language has the exact equivalent of “fun.” You know what? It’s essentially an idiom, and whoever wrote that older book was just one of many who have pulled some idiom out and made silly, grandiose generalizations while demonstrating a willful ignorance of the very nature of idioms. Generally the claim is that “no other language has X, the way English/Spanish/Japanese has X,” etc. They go about some simplistically literal lexical translation, and then act as if the fact that no other language has the exact same idiom it therefore means all other language lack the connotation of that idiom. It’s an almost willful ignorance of the way language works. ---
**Author:** ![hapkido1996](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@hapkido1996](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hapkido1996)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/35 "2014-07-02T08:05:06Z")
In Korean, 잼이 있다 seems to be a very good equivalent of “fun”: [http://www.korean-flashcards.com/translate-2711](http://www.korean-flashcards.com/translate-2711) ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446/36 "2014-07-02T17:01:06Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Actually, just to make myself more clear (something I’m not always to good at :p): I was agreeing with you, and expanding on your point. Okee dokee. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-fun-have-an-equivalent-outside-of-english/691446.md?page=1)