fast
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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4 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "fast", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "fast" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "fast" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
fast is anEnglishadj. It means: Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable. Pronounced /fɑːst/. It ranks #767 in English word frequency. Often confused with FS and fit.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fast |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /fɑːst/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #767 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fast is 4 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɑːst/. Corpus data places it at rank #767 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for fast, with forms such as "afst", "fasst", and "fastt". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "FS", "fit", "fat", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fast, fest, from Old English fæst (“firm, secure”), from Proto-West Germanic *fast, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology. The development of “rapid” from an original sense of “secure” apparently happened… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is fast, spelled F-A-S-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.
- 2Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.
- 3Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend(s).)
- 4Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light.
- 5Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light.
- 6Of a place, characterised by business, hustle and bustle, etc.
- 7Causing unusual rapidity of play or action.
- 8Able to transfer data in a short period of time.
- 9Deep or sound (of sleep); fast asleep (of people).
- 10Not running or fading when subjected to detrimental conditions such as wetness or intense light; permanent.
- 11Tenacious; retentive.
- 12Having an extravagant lifestyle or immoral habits.
- 13Uncharacteristically mature or promiscuous for one's age.
- 14Ahead of the correct time or schedule.
- 15More sensitive to light than average.
Etymology
From Middle English fast, fest, from Old English fæst (“firm, secure”), from Proto-West Germanic *fast, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology. The development of “rapid” from an original sense of “secure” apparently happened first in the adverb and then transferred to the adjective; compare hard in expressions like “to run hard”. The original sense of “secure, firm” is now slightly archaic, but retained in the related fasten (“make secure”). Also compare close meaning change from Latin rapiō (“to snatch”) to Latin rapidus (“rapid, quick”), from Irish sciob (“to snatch”) to Irish sciobtha (“quick”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: afst,fasst,fastt,ffast,fsat
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for fast
Misspelling Variants of "fast"
Frequency rank: #767 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter F in our English index: