make fun of
"make-fun-of" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“make fun of” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To tease, ridicule or make jokes about, generally in a pejorative manner.
Corpus desk
Index EN-make-fun-of · make fun of · English
make fun of · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | make fun of |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “make fun of” in English
Rare enough to double-check
make fun of is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To tease, ridicule or make jokes about, generally in a pejorative manner.".
make fun of doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Recorded 1737. Preserves the older meaning of fun, from Middle English fon, fonne (“foolish, simple, silly”), fun (c. 1700) meaning "a cheat, trick, hoax", from a verb fun meaning "to cheat, trick" (1680s). The correct English form is make fun of, spelled M-A-K-E- -F-U-N- -O-F.
Definition
- 1To tease, ridicule or make jokes about, generally in a pejorative manner.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how make fun of appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Please stop making fun of your sister and just help her!
Etymology
Recorded 1737. Preserves the older meaning of fun, from Middle English fon, fonne (“foolish, simple, silly”), fun (c. 1700) meaning "a cheat, trick, hoax", from a verb fun meaning "to cheat, trick" (1680s).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.