fon

See also: Appendix:Variations of "fon"

Languages (25)

Translingual • English

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Catalan • Cornish • French • Gothic • Haitian Creole • Hungarian • Indonesian • Italian • Malay • Middle English • Old English • Old Frisian • Old High German • Old Irish • Old Saxon • Polish • Romanian • Saterland Frisian • Scottish Gaelic • Serbo-Croatian • Spanish • Sranan Tongo • Vilamovian

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

From English Fon or a clipping of Fon Fɔngbe.

Symbol

fon

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Fon.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Fon terms

English

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA or enPR then please add some!

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• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English fonne (noun). More at fun.

Noun

fon (plural fons)

1. (obsolete) A fool or idiot.
   • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 65, lines 128–129:

     Delt he not lyke a fon?
     Delt he not lyke a daw?

Derived terms

• fond
• fonly

References

• “fon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

English Wikipedia has an article on:

fon

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔːn/

Noun

fon (plural fons)

1. A chieftain or king of a region of Cameroon.
   • 2008, Milton Krieger, Cameroon's Social Democratic Front, →ISBN, page 71:

     Province-wide, the latter part of the 1990s witnessed considerable efforts by the regime to organize and activate a bloc of such financially dependent fons in the North West Elite Association (NWELA), […]

   • 2010, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon, →ISBN, page 53:

     In the early 1900s, the Bafut fought several wars with the German colonizers and their allies, ending in 1907 with the exile of the fon of that time.

   • 2011, Society and Change in Bali Nyonga: Critical Perspectives, →ISBN, page 152:

     Biya's volte-face became apparent in July 1990 when he, as president of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) appointed Ganyonga and the fons of Mankon and Bafut into key positions of the party […]

Derived terms

• fondom

Anagrams

• NOF, OFN, ONF.

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈfɔn]

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”).

Noun

fon m (plural fons)

1. (linguistics) phone

Related terms

• al·lòfon
• -fon
• fonem
• fonètic

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

fon

1. inflection of fondre:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

fon (Valencia)

1. (literary) third-person singular preterite indicative of ésser

   Synonym: fou (standard Catalan)

2. (colloquial) first-person singular preterite indicative of ésser

   Synonym: fui (standard Catalan, literary Valencian)

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

fon (Balearic)

1. first-person singular present indicative of fonar

   Synonym: fono (standard Catalan)

Cornish

Etymology

Borrowed from English phone.

Pronunciation

• (Late Cornish) IPA^(key): /foːn/
• (Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): /fɔːn/

Noun

fon m (plural fons)

1. telephone, phone

   Synonyms: pellgewsell, pellgowser

Derived terms

• fonya (“to phone”, verb)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

fon m (uncountable)

1. Fon (language)

Further reading

• “fon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Gothic

Romanization

fōn

1. romanization of 𐍆𐍉𐌽

Haitian Creole

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔ̃/

Etymology 1

From French fond (“bottom”).

Noun

fon

1. bottom

Etymology 2

From French front (“forehead”).

Noun

fon

1. forehead