fagとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

Probably from fag end (“remnant”), from 中期英語 fagge (“flap”).

名詞

fag (plural fags)

1. (US, technical) In textile inspections, a rough or coarse defect in the woven fabric.
2. (UK, Ireland, colloquial) A cigarette.
   • 1968 January 25, The Bulletin‎, Oregon:

     He′d Phase Out Fag Industry
     Los Angeles (UPI) - A UCLA professor has called for the phasing out of the cigarette industry by converting tobacco acres to other crops.

   • 1995, Pulp, “Common People”, in Different Class:

     Oh, rent a flat above a shop / And cut your hair and get a job / And smoke some fags and play some pool / Pretend you never went to school

   • 2001, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, Alfred A. Knopf, section 15:

     All of them, like my mother, were heavy smokers, and after warming themselves by the fire, they would sit on the sofa and smoke, lobbing their wet fag ends into the fire.

   • 2011, Bill Marsh, Great Australian Shearing Stories, unnumbered page:

     So I started off by asking the shearers if they minded if I took a belly off while they were having a fag. Then after a while they were asking me. They′d say, ‘Do yer wanta take over fer a bit while I have a fag?’ And then I got better and I′d finish the sheep and they′d say ‘Christ, I haven′t finished me bloody fag yet, yer may as well shear anotherie.’

3. (UK, Ireland, obsolete, colloquial) The worst part or end of a thing.
   • 1788, William Perry, editor, The Royal standard English dictionary‎:

     Fag, s. the worst part or end of anything.

使用する際の注意点

• The usage to refer to a cigarette is no longer readily understood in North America due to the prevalence of the use as a homophobic slur there (see etymology 3). It is now likely to be misunderstood as such or otherwise seen as offensive by people from that region. This can cause problems for people from other regions using the word like this on US-run social media platforms, even in local or regional spaces.

同意語

• (cigarette): ciggy (Britain, Ireland), smoke, (Cockney rhyming slang) oily rag

派生語

語源 2

Akin to flag (“droop, tire”). Compare Dutch vaak (“sleepiness”).

名詞

fag (plural fags)

1. (UK, Ireland, colloquial, now rare) A chore: an arduous and tiresome task.
   • 1817, Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey:

     We are sadly off in the country; not but what we have very good shops in Salisbury, but it is so far to go—eight miles is a long way; Mr. Allen says it is nine, measured nine; but I am sure it cannot be more than eight; and it is such a fag—I come back tired to death.

   • 1923, Agatha Christie, The Murder on the Links:

     Keeping up appearances is a bit of a fag, ​I grant, but if a girl respects herself it’s up to her not to let herself get slack.

2. (UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) A younger student acting as a servant for senior students.
   • 1791, Richard Cumberland, The Observer, volume 4, page 67:

     I had the character at ſchool of being the very beſt fag that ever came into it.

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     “He was my fag at Eton,” Warrington said. “I ought to have licked him a little more.”

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 18:

     A gang of fags was mobbing about by the notice-boards. They fell silent as he approached. He patted one of them on the head. ‘Pretty children,’ he sighed, digging into his waistcoat pocket and pulling out a handful of change. ‘Tonight you shall eat.’ Scattering the coins at their feet, he moved on.

派生語

• brain fag

動詞

fag (third-person singular simple present fags, present participle fagging, simple past and past participle fagged)

1. (transitive, colloquial, used mainly in passive form, now rare) To make exhausted, tired out.
2. (intransitive, colloquial, now rare) To droop; to tire.
   • a. 1829, G. Mackenzie, Lives, quoted in 1829, "Fag", entry in The London Encyclopaedia: Or, Universal Dictionary, Volume 9, page 12,

     Creighton with-held his force 'till the Italian began to fag, and then brought him to the ground.

3. (intransitive, UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) (of a younger student) To act as a servant for senior students in many British boarding schools.
4. (transitive, UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) To have (a younger student) act as a servant in this way.
   • 1887, Francis Bacon, Richard Whately, Essays, page 63:

     It is everywhere observed that a liberated slave is apt to make a merciless master, and that boys who have been cruelly fagged at school are cruel faggers.

5. (intransitive, UK, Ireland, now rare) To work hard, especially on menial chores.
   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 1, in Jane Eyre‎, HTML edition:

     This state of things should have been to me a paradise of peace, accustomed as I was to a life of ceaseless reprimand and thankless fagging; but, in fact, my racked nerves were now in such a state that no calm could soothe, and no pleasure excite them agreeably.

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

     I walked about the streets where the best shops for ladies were, I haunted the Bazaar like an unquiet spirit, I fagged through the Park again and again, long after I was quite knocked up.

派生語

• (to act as a servant): fagger, faggery, fagging (as a noun), fagmaster
• (to tire): fag out, fagged out

使用する際の注意点

• As with the usage to refer to a cigarette (see etymology 1), these usages are likely to cause offence to or otherwise be seen as slurs by people from North America due to the prevalence of the usage as a slur (see etymology 3) in that region, even if their literal meaning is understood. Even in the UK and Ireland, due to the rarity of these senses and the prevalence of the usage to refer to a cigarette, these usages may cause confusion or misunderstandings.

語源 3

Clipping of faggot.

名詞

fag (plural fags)

1. (US, Canada, vulgar, usually offensive, sometimes endearing) A homosexual man, especially (usually derogatory) an effeminate or unusual one.
   • 1921 John Lind, The Female Impersonators (Historical Documentation of American Slang v. 1, A-G, edited by Jonathan E. Lighter (New York: Random House, 1994) page 716.

     Androgynes known as “fairies,” “fags,” or “brownies.”

   • 1926, American Neurological Association with New York Neurological Association et al., Journal of nervous and mental disease‎, volume 94, page 467:

     In schizophrenics, however, the homosexual outlet is sooner or later ... ideas that strangers call them "cs," "fairy," "woman," "fag," " fruit," etc.). ...

   • 1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 111:

     When they pick out a set of clubs for him to rent, he is so indifferent and silent the freckled kid in charge stares at him as if he's a moron. The thought flits through his brain that Eccles is known as a fag and he has become the new pet.

   • 2006, Lynn Mickelsen, Confusion Turned to Chaos:

     A couple of days later, Trisha tells Madelyn there is a rumor going around that she's a fag.

   • 2008, Paul Ryan Brewer, Value war: public opinion and the politics of gay rights, →ISBN, page 60:

     ... what appeared to be overt appeals to anti-gay sentiment. When House Majority Whip Dick Armey referred to fellow Congressman Barney Frank as "Barney Fag" in 1995, he suffered a barage of negative publicity that prompted him to explain his choice of words as a slip of the tongue.

2. (US, vulgar, derogatory, offensive) An annoying person.

   Why did you do that, you fag?

使用する際の注意点

• In North America, fag is often considered highly offensive, although some gay people have tried to reclaim it. (Compare faggot.) The humorousness of derived terms fag hag and fag stag is sometimes considered to lessen their offensiveness.

同意語

• (male homosexual): See Thesaurus:homosexual person
• (annoying person): See Thesaurus:jerk

派生語

参照

アナグラム

• gaf, GFA, FGA, Afg.

語源

From fag (“homosexual man, annoying person, etc.”); compare -man. Popularized on the 4chan online community (see also Christopher "Moot" Poole's tripcode of #faggot). First attested in c. early 2000s.

For similar semantic drift in slang from derogatory to neutral, ironic or affectionate, compare some senses of bugger, cunt, etc.

接尾辞

-fag

1. (Internet slang, originally 4chan slang, offensive, derogatory) Suffix that forms pejorative nouns, generally referring to specific types of people and sometimes used ironically or even affectionately.
   • 2008 May 18, Askren [username], “Re: Is Cos and RTC violating U.S. tax law?”, in alt.religion.scientology‎ (Usenet):

     I'll forward this to a few lawfags and see what he deal is.

   • 2008 July 11, Onideus Mad Hatter [username], “BTW Lego Newfag”, in rec.toys.lego‎ (Usenet):

     Oh, also, using Outhouse Express...yeah, really shows off what a Usenet newfag you are, just a lil FYI for ya. You might wanna try XNews or Agent or any *REAL* news browser (not a mail client with some sloppily added extras).

   • 2009 June 18, Onslaught Six [username], “Re: I really didn't study for this test”, in alt.toys.transformers‎ (Usenet):

     The pathetic Usenet oldfags will cling to their pathetic, outdated and boring medium as the new-world forumites rule the Interwebs universe.

使用する際の注意点

• This highly-productive suffix is controversial and not likely to be understood properly outside of 4chan-linked and similar imageboard culture. The non-derogatory senses especially may elude many people and be taken for homophobic offense (e.g. compare popularity of normie on most social media vs. normalfag).

派生語

派生した語

• → Finnish: -homo (calque)

参考

• 厨
• pede

アナグラム

• gaf, GFA, FGA, Afg.