fanfaronade

You Can Brag About Your Knowledge of Fanfaronade

If we tell you that fanfaronade is what fanfarons do, you'll easily guess that fanfaron means "braggart." Both "fanfaron" (a fairly uncommon word found in unabridged dictionaries) and "fanfaronade" derive from "fanfarrón," a Spanish word for a boaster that probably developed in imitation of the verbal claptrap blared by blowhards. "Fanfarrón" gave Spanish speakers fanfarronada, which the French borrowed with the spelling "fanfaronnade"; English speakers further modified the French term into "fanfaronade" in the mid-1600s. Some etymologists believe English speakers borrowed "fanfaron" directly from Spanish, but others think that word also passed through French before reaching our language. It isn't clear whether "fanfaron" and "fanfaronade" are directly related to the similar "fanfare" or if that term arose as yet another transliteration of the sound of a showy or pompous display.