famous

English

Etymology

From Middle English famous, from Anglo-Norman famous, from Latin fāmōsus, equivalent to fame +‎ -ous. Displaced native Old English hlīsful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪ.məs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪməs

Adjective

famous (comparative more famous, superlative most famous)

1. Well known.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:famous

   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

     By this my ſword that conquer’d Perſea,
     Thy fall ſhall make me famous through the world:

2. In the public eye.

   Some people are only famous within their city.

3. Excellent.
   • 1924, Agatha Christie, The Man in the Brown Suit:

     Pagett is a famous Job's comforter.

Derived terms

• cosfamous
• e-famous
• famous for being famous
• famousish
• famous last words
• famously
• famousness
• horse famous
• infamous
• infamously
• infamousness
• instafamous
• Instafamous
• Internet famous
• megafamous
• microfamous
• nonfamous
• nonfamousness
• overfamous
• prefamous
• pseudofamous
• semifamous
• superfamous
• uber-famous
• ultrafamous
• unfamous
• world-famous

Related terms

• fame

Translations

well known

• Afrikaans: beroemd
• Albanian: famshëm (sq), famëmadh (sq)
• Arabic: مَشْهُور (ar) m (mašhūr), شَهِير (ar) m (šahīr)

  Egyptian Arabic: مشهور (mašhūr)

• Armenian: հայտնի (hy) (haytni)
• Azerbaijani: tanınmış
• Basque: famatu
• Belarusian: вядо́мы (vjadómy)
• Bengali: বিখ্যাত (bn) (bikkhat), মশহুর (bn) (mośohur), নামজাদা (bn) (namjada)
• Bulgarian: прочу́т (bg) (pročút), изве́стен (bg) (izvésten)
• Catalan: famós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 出名 (ceot¹ meng²)

  Mandarin: 有名 (zh) (yǒumíng), 著名 (zh) (zhùmíng)

• Czech: slavný (cs), proslulý (cs), věhlasný
• Danish: berømt (da)
• Dutch: beroemd (nl)
• Egyptian: (rḫḫy)
• Esperanto: fama (eo)
• Estonian: kuulus
• Faroese: víðagitin
• Finnish: kuuluisa (fi)
• French: fameux (fr), célèbre (fr), connu (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: ferneamde

• Galician: de sona, famoso (gl), afamado
• Georgian: სახელოვანი (saxelovani), ცნობილი (ka) (cnobili), სახელგანთქმული (saxelgantkmuli), სახელმოხვეჭილი (saxelmoxveč̣ili)
• German: bekannt (de), berühmt (de)
• Greek: διάσημος (el) (diásimos), περίφημος (el) (perífimos)

  Ancient Greek: κλεινός (kleinós), κλειτός (kleitós), ὀνομαστός (onomastós), εὔδοξος (eúdoxos)

• Greenlandic: tusaamasaq
• Hawaiian: kaulana
• Hebrew: מפורסם (mefursam)
• Hindi: प्रसिद्ध (hi) (prasiddh), प्रख्यात (prakhyāt), विख्यात (hi) (vikhyāt), लोकप्रिय (lokapriya), लोकप्रसिद्ध (hi) (lokaprasiddh), नामी (hi) (nāmī)
• Hungarian: híres (hu)
• Icelandic: frægur (is)
• Ido: famoza (io)
• Indonesian: terkenal (id), termahsyur
• Ingrian: kuuluisa
• Interlingua: famose
• Irish: cáiliúil
• Italian: famoso (it)
• Japanese: 有名 (ja) (ゆうめい, yūmei), 高名 (ja) (こうめい, kōmei), 名高い (ja) (なだかい, nadakai)
• Kazakh: әйгілі (äigılı), мәшһүр (mäşhür)
• Khmer: ល្បី (km) (lbəy)
• Korean: 유명한 (yumyeonghan)
• Latin: fāmōsus, inclitus, nobilis (la), notus (la)
• Latvian: slavens
• Ligurian: famôzo
• Lithuanian: garsus, įžymus, gerai žinomas
• Luxembourgish: berühmt
• Macedonian: познат (poznat)
• Malay: terkenal (ms), masyhur (ms)
• Malayalam: പ്രശസ്ത (ml) (praśasta), പ്രശസ്തമായ (praśastamāya), പേരുകേട്ട (pērukēṭṭa)
• Manchu: ᡤᡝᠪᡠᠩᡤᡝ (gebungge)
• Manobo:

  Western Bukidnon Manobo: mevantug

• Mansaka: bantogan
• Māori: rongonui
• Mirandese: afamado, famoso
• Mongolian: алдарт (mn) (aldart)
• Neapolitan: famuso
• Nepali: प्रसिद्ध (prasiddha)
• Norman: fanmeux
• Norwegian: berømt (no), kjent (no)
• Old English: hlīsful
• Old Norse: ágætr
• Persian: نامدار (fa) (nâmdâr), مشهور (fa) (mašhur), معروف (fa) (ma'ruf)
• Plautdietsch: beriemt, huachberiemt
• Polish: sławny (pl), słynny (pl)
• Portuguese: famoso (pt), afamado (pt), célebre (pt)
• Romanian: celebru (ro), faimos (ro)
• Romansh: famus
• Russian: изве́стный (ru) (izvéstnyj)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: beakkálmas

• Scottish Gaelic: cliùiteach, ainmeil
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: познат

  Latin: poznat (sh)

• Slovak: slávny, známy (sk)
• Slovene: slaven
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: znaty

  Upper Sorbian: sławny

• Spanish: famoso (es), célebre (es), afamado (es), conocido (es), espectable, expectable, de expectación (rare)
• Swedish: känd (sv), berömd (sv)
• Tagalog: kilala (tl)
• Tarantino: famuse
• Thai: มีชื่อเสียง, โด่งดัง (th) (dòong-dang), กระหึ่ม (th) (grà-hʉ̀m)
• Tibetan: སྐད་གྲགས (skad grags)
• Turkish: meşhur (tr), ünlü (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: بللی (belli)

• Ukrainian: відо́мий (vidómyj)
• Urdu: مَشہُور (ur) (maśhūr), نامی (nāmī), نامور (nāmvar), جانا مانا (jānā mānā), مَعرُوف (ma'rūf), مَقبُول (maqbūl), نامدار (nāmdār), شُہُور و مَعرُوف (śuhūr o ma'rūf), شہرت یافتہ (śuhrat yāfta), شہرۂ آفاق
• Vietnamese: nổi tiếng (vi) (𬈗㗂), nổi danh (vi) (𬈗名)
• Welsh: enwog (cy)
• Yakut: ааттаах (aattaaq)

in the public eye

• Arabic: مَشْهُور (ar) (mašhūr)
• Belarusian: славу́ты (slavúty), сла́ўны (sláwny), вядо́мы (vjadómy)
• Bulgarian: изве́стен (bg) (izvésten), знамени́т (bg) (znamenít)
• Catalan: cèlebre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有名 (zh) (yǒumíng), 著名 (zh) (zhùmíng)

• Dutch: alom bekend
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kuuluisa (fi)
• French: célèbre (fr)
• Georgian: ცნობილი (ka) (cnobili), ცნობილი პირი (cnobili ṗiri), სახელგანთქმული პირი (saxelgantkmuli ṗiri)
• German: berühmt (de)
• Hindi: प्रसिद्ध (hi) (prasiddh), प्रख्यात (prakhyāt), विख्यात (hi) (vikhyāt), लोकप्रिय (lokapriya), लोकप्रसिद्ध (hi) (lokaprasiddh), मशहूर (hi) (maśhūr)
• Hungarian: híres (hu)
• Ingrian: kuuluisa
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malayalam: പ്രശസ്ത (ml) (praśasta)
• Portuguese: conhecido (pt)
• Russian: изве́стный (ru) (izvéstnyj), знамени́тый (ru) (znamenítyj), просла́вленный (ru) (proslávlennyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cliùiteach, ainmeil, allail
• Slovak: známy (sk)
• Slovene: znamenit, slaven
• Tagalog: kilala (tl)
• Turkish: meşhur (tr), ünlü (tr)
• Ukrainian: знамени́тий (znamenýtyj), славе́тний (slavétnyj), сла́вний (slávnyj), відо́мий (vidómyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} מפורסם (m'fursam)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} مەشھوور (meşhûr), ^{(please verify)} بەناوبانگ (ckb) (nenâwbâng), ^{(please verify)} ناودار (nâwdar)

• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} പ്രശസ്ത (ml) (praśasta)
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} mǣre
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} slavne
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} berömd (sv)

Verb

famous (third-person singular simple present famouses, present participle famousing, simple past and past participle famoused)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To make famous; to bring renown to.