different between profane vs fane

English

Etymology

From Middle French prophane, from Latin prof?nus (“not religious, unclean”), from pro- (“before”) + f?num (“temple”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p???fe?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Adjective

profane (comparative profaner or more profane, superlative profanest or most profane)

1. Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
   • 1614, Walter Raleigh, The History of the World

     Nothing is profane that serveth to the use of holy things.

2. Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.
   • 1781, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 2

     A sonnet in praise of Rome was accepted as the effusion of genius and gratitude; and after the whole procession had visited the Vatican, the profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.

3. Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or scorn; blasphemous, impious.
4. Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain

   a profane person, word, oath, or tongue

Synonyms

• (obscene): vulgar, inappropriate, obscene, debased, uncouth, offensive, ignoble, mean, lewd
• secular
• temporal
• worldly
• unsanctified
• unhallowed
• unholy
• irreligious
• irreverent
• ungodly
• wicked
• godless
• impious

Antonyms

• holy
• sacred

Translations

Noun

profane (plural profanes)

1. A person or thing that is profane.
   • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society 1985, p. 244:

     The nuns were employed in religious duties established in honour of St Clare, and to which no profane was ever admitted.

2. (freemasonry) A person not a Mason.

Verb

profane (third-person singular simple present profanes, present participle profaning, simple past and past participle profaned)

1. (transitive) To violate (something sacred); to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate
2. (transitive) To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to debase; to abuse; to defile.

Synonyms

• (violate something sacred): defile, unhallow; see also Thesaurus:desecrate
• (put to a wrong or unworthy use): abase, adulterate, degrade, demean, misapply, misuse, pervert

Antonyms

• (violate something sacred): consecrate, sanctify; see also Thesaurus:consecrate

Translations

Related terms

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prof?nus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??.fan/

Adjective

profane (plural profanes)

1. secular; lay

   Synonyms: laïque, séculier

   Antonym: sacré

2. profane

Related terms

Further reading

• “profane” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Adjective

profane f pl

1. feminine plural of profano

Noun

profane f

1. plural of profana

Latin

Adjective

prof?ne

1. vocative masculine singular of prof?nus

References

• profane in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• profane in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Portuguese

Verb

profane

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of profanar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of profanar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of profanar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of profanar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?o?fane/, [p?o?fa.ne]

Verb

profane

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of profanar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of profanar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of profanar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of profanar.

English

Alternative forms

• faine (obsolete)
• phane (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fe?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n
• Homophones: feign, foehn, fain (archaic)

Etymology 1

From Middle English fane, from Old English fana (“cloth, banner”), from Proto-Germanic *fanô (“cloth, flag”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh?n- (“to weave; something woven; cloth, fabric, tissue”). Compare vane.

Noun

fane (plural fanes)

1. (obsolete) A weathercock, a weather vane.
   • 1801, John Baillie, An Impartial History of the Town and County of Newcastle Upon Tyne, page 541,

     The ?teeple had become old and ruinous; and therefore the pre?ent one was built about the year 1740. It had, at that time, four fanes mounted on ?pires, on the four corners; the?e being judged too weak for the fanes, were taken down in 1764, and the roof of the ?teeple altered.

2. (obsolete) A banner, especially a military banner.

Etymology 2

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

Noun

fane (plural fanes)

2. A temple or sacred place.
   • 1850, The Madras Journal of Literature and Science, Volume 16, page 64,

     Fanes are built around it for a distance of 3, 4 or 5 Indian miles; but whether these are Jaina, or more strictly Hindu is not mentioned.

   • 1884, Henry David Thoreau, Summer: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau, page 78,

     The priests of the Germans and Britons were druids. They had their sacred oaken groves. Such were their steeple houses. Nature was to some extent a fane to them.

   • 1993 [1978], H. P. Blavatsky, Boris de Zirkoff (editor), The Secret Doctrine, Volume 1: Cosmogenesis, page 458,

     And this ideal conception is found beaming like a golden ray upon each idol, however coarse and grotesque, in the crowded galleries of the sombre fanes of India and other Mother lands of cults.

Related terms

• profane

Anagrams

• NEFA, neaf

French

Etymology

From faner.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fan/

Noun

fane f (plural fanes)

1. (archaic) dry leaf
2. (cooking) The leaves attached to vegetables, but which are themselves not usually consumed, such as those of carrot, radishes and cauliflowers.
3. (horticulture, agriculture) The leaves of any vegetable which is not itself a leaf vegetable, and which are not usually attached to the edible part, such as those of potatoes, tomatoes and beans.

Further reading

• “fane” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English fana.

Alternative forms

• fone, fanu

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fa?n(?)/

Noun

fane

2. (rare) A particular kind of white-coloured iris.

References

• “f?ne, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-12-31.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English fana, from Proto-Germanic *fanô; doublet of fanon.

Alternative forms

• vane, vaane, phane

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fa?n(?)/
• (Southern ME) IPA^(key): /?va?n(?)/

Noun

fane (plural fanes)

2. A flag or gonfalon; a piece of fabric or other visible structure used for identification on the field.
3. A flag borne on sea-going vessels, especially a long triangular one.
4. A weathervane or weathercock (used to indicate changeableness)

Descendants

• English: fane, vane
• Scots: fane, faan, thane, phane

References

• “f?ne, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-12-31.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin f?num, from Proto-Italic *faznom.

Alternative forms

• phane

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fa?n(?)/

Noun

fane

2. (rare) A temple, especially that used to worship Roman gods.

Descendants

• English: fane

References

• “f?ne, n.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-12-31.