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fane

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fane¹

  • /feɪn/

Sounds like feign, foehn, fain (archaic) · Rhymes with -eɪn

Where it comes from

From Middle English fane, from Old English fana (“cloth, banner”), from Proto-West Germanic *fanō, from Proto-Germanic *fanô (“cloth, flag”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (“to weave; something woven; cloth, fabric, tissue”). Doublet of fanon and vane.

noun fanes · faine · phane

  1. obsolete A weathercock, a weather vane. The ſteeple had become old and ruinous; and therefore the preſent one was built about the year 1740. It had, at that time, four fanes mounted on ſpires, on the four corners; theſe being judged too weak for the fanes, were taken down in 1764, and the roof of the ſteeple altered.
  2. obsolete A banner, especially a military banner. So fate fell-woven forward drave him, and with malice Mordred his mind hardened, saying that war was wisdom and waiting folly. ‘Let their fanes be felled and their fast places bare and broken, burned their havens, and isles immune from march of arms or Roman reign now reek to heaven in fires of veng

fane²

  • /feɪn/

Sounds like feign, foehn, fain (archaic) · Rhymes with -eɪn

Where it comes from

From Middle English fane (“temple”), from Latin fānum (“temple, place dedicated to a deity”). Doublet of fanum.

noun fanes · faine · phane

  1. A temple or sacred place. And Pallas rear'd him; her ovvn unctuous fane / She made his habitation, vvhere vvith bulls / The youth of Athens, and vvith ſlaughter'd lambs / Her annual vvorſhip celebrate.

Fane³

proper noun Fanes

  1. A surname.

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Cite this
MLA

"fane." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fane. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

fane. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fane

Chicago

"fane." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fane.

BibTeX
@misc{fane_2026,
  title = {fane},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fane},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}