Etymologicon

F: "Female." From single's ad terminology.
Fab, Fab-ass, Faboo: "Cool, Fabulous." [Cont] Probably started in Black Vernacular, These expressions have carried over to other dialects.
Fadda: - "Father." [DV] From Black Vernacular.
Fa'eva: "Forever." [DV] From Black Vernacular.
Fag: "Cigarette." A British slang term, as in "Get me a pack a' fags." It derives from "fagot" or "faggot" meaning "stick." It is related to "fasces," a bundle of sticks around an axe, and "fagus," the Greek word for "oak."
Fake: "False, Fraudulent; To Deceive." While quite common today, the word "fake" was listed as slang in dictionaries only about 50 years old. Most dictionaries list the etymology as "unknown," but there can be little doubt that "fake" developed from "fike" or a similar derivative of the root "fic." See "fickle" and "fike."
Fakery: "Fraud, Trickery." See "fake."
Fam: "Close Friends" or "Circle of Close Friends." [Cont] From Black Vernacular. It is a contraction of
"family."
Family Jewels: "Balls, Testicles." Another Cockney rhyming slang that has permeated slang throughout English. It stems from the Cockney pronunciation of "jewels" and has an obvious connection to "passing down the family lineage."
Fanzine: "a Zine Dedicated to Something." A compound of "fan," from "fanatic," and "zine." See "zine."
FAQ: "Frequently Asked Questions." An internet abbreviation. This started on usenet as a name for documents intended to answer repeated questions asked by new members.
Fatso: "Fat Jerk." This pejorative form derives from the German "fettsack" which has the same connotations as "fatso."
Faux: "False, Fake." A direct loan from French.
Faux-Hawk, Fauxhawk: "A Haircut Imitating a 'Mohawk' Without Actually Shaving Parts of the Head." From "faux" = "false" (see above) and the second component of "mohawk," a haircut named for an American Indian tribe.
Faux Pas: "An Act that Defies Social Convention." A French phrase, literally meaning "false step."
Feckless: "Weak, Lacking Spirit, Vigour or Energy." This word comes down from Scotts Doric. It basically equals "effectless," "feck" being the Scotts version of "effect."
Fella, Fellah (pl. Fellaz): "Fellow." [DV] Primarily from Black Vernacular. For example, "He wuz a big fella."
Femme Fatale: "A Dangerously Irresistable Woman." A loan from French, literally translating as "fatal woman."
Fen: "Prostitute." From British theive's cant of the 17th century. Eric Partridge postulates that it probably derives from "fen" = "mud, filth or excrement."
Fer: "For." [DV] As in "Fer sure!"
Fess: "Confess." [cont] Most commonly seen in the idiomatic phrase "fess up."
FF: "Fully Functional." From transexual ads. Think about it.
FFM: "Female/Female/Male, a Menage a Trois." Used in porn listings.
FFP: "Forward Firing Position." A military abbreviation.
FI: "For Instance." An internet abbreviation.
FICCL: "Frankly I Couldn't Care Less." An internet abbreviation.
Fickle: "False, Deceitful; Volatile; Changeable or Instable, Especially with Regard to Affections or Attachments." From the Middle English "fikel, fikele or vikel," from the Anglo-Saxon "ficol," all meaning "fickle, cunning, tricky, deceitful." There are many related words in Middle English, such as "fikelien" = "to deceive, flatter," "fikelare, vikelare" = "deceiver, flatterer," "fikelunge" = "flattery," "fikenung" = "deceit" and "fiken," meaning "to fidget; hurry about; trifle; flatter." Anglo-Saxon variants were also common, such as "fician" = "to decieve, flatter," "ficung" = "fraud, trickery" and "gefic," meaning "deceit." See "fuck," "fike," and "fake."
Fiddy: "Fifty." [DV] From Black Vernacular. For example, note the "fiddy states" according to P.E. and the common "fiddy cent" = "fifty cents."
Figga, Figa: "Figure" [DV] This is seen in Black Vernacular, ultimately from the Southern accent. It is used both in the sense of "figuring something out," as in "Ha' d'ya figga?" and as a public figure, as in "Major Figgas" or "Mob Figaz." It can also refer to money, from phrases like "a six figure bank account," we get "and swear he got figgas." Figga developed from "figger," see "figger."
Figger: "Figure." [DV] The older, Southern version of "figga." This also appears in Black Vernacular, as in "somethin 2 be figgered by each individual," "i figgered i would jest wait till..." See "figga" and "figgers."
Figgers: "Figures" (Totals). [DV] Southern, as written in Lil' Abner (june 19th, 1948) "th' final figgers." See "figger" and "figga."
Fike: "To Fidget, Move Restlessly, Decieve." This word is archaic, though it was used up till at least the nineteenth century. In the sense of "deceive," it probably developed into our modern "fake." See "fickle" and "fake."
Filthadelphia: "Philadelphia." A native moniker derived from Philadelphia's trash and litter problem.
Fin: "Fixin'." [DV][Cont] From Black Vernacular. See "finna."
F-ing: "Fucking." A politer substitution, pronounced "effing" and often written that way.
Finga (pl. Fingaz): "Finger." [DV] From Black Vernacular. For example, there is the "Sticky Fingaz" and the phrase in Public Enemy's lyrics: "kickin' finga lickin'."
Finna: "Fixin' to." [DV][Cont] From Black Vernacular. For example, "I'm finna eat now." See "fin."
Five-o: "Police." This term comes from the popular tv show "Hawaii 5-0." the term is popular in Black Vernacular.
Fi-yah, Fi-yuh: "Fire." [DV] From the Jamaican dialect.
Flash in the Pan: "An Abortive Effort." This cliché expression comes from the old days of muskets, when the main explosion which propelled the bullet was primed by a smaller explosion in a pan, set above a small hole leading to the main charge of powder. All shots started with a flash in the pan, but sometimes the flash in the pan failed to ignite the main charge. This gives us the full and proper forms of this expression, "just a flash in the pan," "nothing but a flash in the pan" or the like.
Flava: "Style, Flair." A natural African American Vernacular version of "flavor," as in the author Zane's anthologies "Chocolate Flava" and "Caramel Flava" as well as the rapper Flava Flav.
Flick (pl. Flix): "Movie; Video; Photograph." From the flickering of the movie image.
Flr: "Floor." Common in real estate ad terminology.
Flying Colours, Flying Colors: - As seen in the cliché phrase "passed with flying colours" or "came off with flying colours." It originates from the idea of who made it off the battlefield with their flag still flying, or in other words, who won the battle.
Fo': "For." [DV] From Black Vernacular. For example "Wha' dat fo'?"
FOAD: "Fuck Off And Die." While this abbreviation predates the internet, it has been popularised in that medium.
FOB: "Forward Operating Base." A Military Abbreviation
Forgit: "Forget." [DV] As in the very simplified construction "dunno forgit," the gospel e-list found "we cant forgit what this country stands for," and the internet found example "I'll never forgit u man." See "git."
Fo'sho: "For Sure." [Dv][Cont] From Black Vernacular.
4: "For." Both internetspeak and written Ebonic often use the numeral 4 as a replacement for the word "for." For example "4 da Fam" by Amil, "4 tha Hustlas" by Ant Banks and "Fishin' 4 Religion" by Arrested Development. See also "4get," and "be4."
411, Four Eleven, Four One One: "Information." From Black Vernacular. This term derives from the American telephone information service number. 411 started in NYC, popularised by Mary J Blige's "What's the 411."
4get; 4got; 4gotten: "Forget; Forgot; Forgotten." For example, "4get it" by AKP. See "4."
40, Forty, Foty: - Black Vernacular slang term for a 40 oz. Malt Liquor bottle.
Fret: "To Worry, be Vexed or Troubled." As in "Don't fret it." It is derived from the Middle English "fretan" = "to worry."
Frication: "Friction." An obsolete form, from the Latin "fricatio," from "fricare" = "to rub." See "friction."
Fricatrice: "Whore; Lewd Woman; Lesbian; One Who Masturbates Another." The word originally meant one who masturbated another, usually as a professional prostitute. It later degenerated to mean simply "prostitute" or "lewd woman." Somewhere along the side, it also came to denote lesbians, as "lewd women" who masturbated eachother. It derives from the Latin "fricatricem," from "fricare" = "to rub." See "friction," "frig" and "frigstress."
Friction: "The Rubbing of an Object or Surface against Another." From the Latin "frictus," past participle of "fricare" = "to rub." See also "frication."
Frig: "to Masturbate; Copulate." This word can denote either male or female masturbation or copulation, under the idea of "rubbing." It is cognate to "friction" and "fricatrix" and derives from the Latin "fricare" = "to rub."
Frigging: "Masturbating; Having Coital Intercourse; General Expletive Adjective." From "frig." See "frig."
Frigster: "a Male Masturbator." From "frig." See "frigstress" and "frig."
Frigstress: "a Female Masturbator." From "frig." See "frigster" and "frig."
Frottage: "The Act of Rubbing Up Against Someone For Sexual Gratification." This is usually done to strangers in crowded places, as in subways, etc. The word comes from the French "frottage" = "rubbing" derived from "frotter" = "to rub," from the Old French "froter." We see this same root in the Middle English "frotte" = "to rub" and also in the Archaic Modern English" "frot(e)" = "to chafe." It is possibly a relative of "friction."
Frotteur: "One Who Engages in Frottage." See "frottage."
Frotteuse: "A Female Frotteur." See above.
Frplc, F/plc: "Fireplace." Common in real estate ad terminology.
FT: "Full Time." Mostly from employment ad terminology.
FTMP: "For The Most Part." An internet abbreviation.
FTR: "For The Record." An internet abbreviation.
F2F: "Face To Face." Part abbreviation, part phonetic substitution. From internet use.
Fubar: "Screwed Up; Extremely Drunk." An acronym from Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. See also below.
Fubared: "Screwed Up; Extremely Drunk." See above.
Fucc: "Fuck." [DV] An Ebonic spelling variation. A few examples found online from rap and Black porn sites include "Here's sum fucc action for da guys..," "whatever it waz waz tight az fucc..." "fuccin right," "u should watch who u fuccin wit," and I noticed a song by Afroman entitled "She Won't Let Me Fucc."
Fuck: "To Have Sex; Sexual Intercourse; Cheat, Trick; General Expletive." One of the two most common and vulgar expletives of the English language. Despite the phrase "pardon my French," commonly said after one slips up and utters the expletive, the word is not from French. It is also not an acronym, an idea which has circulated widely. Fuck is a good Germanic word, with possible Anglo-Saxon roots. The taboo nature of the word has kept its history obscure, but we have enough information to sketch it's etymology vaguely. The word suppossedly first appears in print in Scots, in the form "fukkit" around 1503. Whether we can truely say this is its first appearance in English or not depends on whether you consider Scots Doric a language or a dialect. We can directly relate it, however, to the German "Fick" = "fuck" and "ficken" = "to fuck." The word originally meant "to move back and forth quickly" or more simply "to move quickly." It could also mean, "to whip" or "to flag."
German actually has many related forms, and does more with the word than English, such as "Fickerei" = "fucking," "Ficker" = "fucker," "fickerig" = "fidgety, shifty, horny," "Fickfacker" = "a shifty person," "Fickfacken" = "to bustle about" and "Fickfackern" = "to do evil, conspire" We can see that many of these forms relate to the words primary meaning of "to move back and forth." We might note, in this relation that the English "fickle," meaning "characterised by erratic changeableness or instability especially with regard to affections or attachments" is also a development of the root. The sense of "deceitful" connected with "fickle" brings new light to the concept of "fucking someone over." Looking into the history of the two words, it seems quite possible that the sense of cheating or tricking may have come before the sexual meaning. See "fickle."
The German root-word behaves in many compounds and other useage like the English "fuck." For example, we see "fick dich" = "fuck you," "fick mich" = "fuck me," "arschficker" = "assfucker," "fickakopf" = "fuckhead," "mutterficker" = "motherfucker," etc. It is questionable, however, to what degree the German constructions may have been influenced by the English "fuck" rather than being natural German constructions. This would be like the German adaptation of the English "sex" and even "sex appeal." One might think the plural form of "Fick," "Ficks" with an -s ending, might lend towards evidence of an English influence. See also "fucc."
Fucktard: "Fucking Retard." A general insult upon someone's intelligence by way of portmanteau.
Fuct: "Fucked." A slang-style spelling variation, as seen written under a scribbled out graffiti tag: "I fuct up!"
Fudge: "Shit, Feces." A generally politer substitution based on the visual similarity between the two. It can often be heard as "Oh fudge!" = "Oh Shit!" or in some generally derogatory compounds such as "fudge packer" and "fudge hole."
Fudge Hole: "Asshole" Both literally and as a derogatory insult. See "fudge."
Fudge Packer: "Queer, Male Homosexual." From the euphemism "packing fudge," used for anal sex. See "fudge."
Fugly: "Extremely Ugly." Contracted from "fucking ugly."
Fulla: - "Full Of." [DV][Cont] From Black Vernacular.
Fundie: "a Fundamentalist." A mutated contraction. Usually applied to fundamentalist Christians. Also seen as "fundy."
Fundy: "a Fundamentalist." A mutated contraction. Usually applied to fundamentalist Christians. Also seen as "fundie."
Fupa: "The Last of the Series of Fat Rolls Going Down the Front-Side of an Obese Woman." Abbreviated from "Fat Upper Pussy Area."
FWIW: "For What It's Worth." An internet abbreviation.
FYI: "For Your Information." An internet abbreviation.

Home