fack

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English *fak, fec, fæc (“space, compartment”), from Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; period of five years, lustrum”), from Proto-West Germanic *fak, from Proto-Germanic *faką (“division, department, space”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-, *paǵ- (“to fasten, fix”). Cognate with West Frisian fek, Dutch vak (“section, compartment”), German Fach (“compartment”), Swedish fack (“compartment, box, department”), Latin pangō (“fasten, fix”). Doublet of Fach.

Alternative forms

• fec (obsolete)

Noun

fack (plural facks)

1. (UK dialectal) One of the four stomachs of a ruminating animal; rumen; paunch.

Etymology 2

Verb

fack (third-person singular simple present facks, present participle facking, simple past and past participle facked)

1. (UK, Cockney, vulgar) Pronunciation spelling of fuck.

Derived terms

• fack off

Etymology 3

Noun

fack (plural facks)

1. (Ireland) A long-handed spade, especially used for turf.
   • 1778, John Wynn Baker, The Reclaiming and Cultivation of a Bog in the County of Kildare, Dublin: S. Powell, page 8:

     Preparation, burning, facks and mattocks.

   • 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 375:

     Tom, in his hurry, had nivir minded the bringin' a fack wid him, so he thought to run home and fetch one, an' that he might know the place agin, he tuk aff one o' his red garthers, and tied it round the bolyawn.

   • 1940, Edwin Sarsfield, The Black Fox Walks, Little and Brown, page 173:

     [B]een diggin' into the granite haart of my counthry wud a fack or spade, and a pickaxe, or maybe a plow or a scuffle whin a neighbour'd lind thim, and my loved counthry gev me back - what you're lookin' at this minit.

Swedish

Etymology

From German Fach (“compartment, drawer”), from Proto-Germanic *faką (“division, department, space”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fack n

1. a compartment, a box, a slot (often one of several)
2. a trade, a profession, a subject of expertise (seen as a compartment of the larger work life)

   Synonym: gebit

3. (informal) clipping of fackförening (“trade union, labor union”)

   Hon gick med i facket

   She joined the/a union ["gå med i facket" is often used for joining a union in general]

   Facket hotar med att ta ut 2 000 av sina medlemmar i strejk

   The union threatens to take 2,000 of its members out on strike

   2 000 fackmedlemmar är uttagna i strejk

   2,000 union members have been called out on strike [are taken out on strike]

Declension

Declension of fack

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	fack	facks
	definite	facket	fackets
plural	indefinite	fack	facks
	definite	facken	fackens

Related terms

• (compartment): bankfack, frysfack, handskfack, lönnfack, pantfack, postfack
• (trade): fackansluten, fackförbund, fackförening, fackidiot, facklig, facklitteratur, fackombud, fackpamp, fackspråk

See also

• placera någon i ett fack

References

• “fack”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “fack”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “fack”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)