What does "fancy" mean?

Our glossary: When and how is the term 'fancy' used in 2025?

Would you like to travel to an English-speaking country and don't know what "fancy" means? Don't worry!

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The term ‘fancy’ [ˈfɛnsi] is sometimes used in urban subcultures, sometimes for fashion in connection with highlights in outfits, sometimes for eye-catching actions in general everyday life. It almost always has a decorative character. The use of ‘fancy’ gives the impression of a slight, positively perceived transgression of boundaries.
It evokes visions and fantasies (fanciful).

Fancy is used to describe many things: ‘fancy style’, ‘fancy dress’, ‘fancy design’, ‘fancy food’, ‘fancy clothes’, ‘fancy cocktail glasses’, ‘fancy bandeaus’, ‘fancy donuts’... The term is applied to a wide variety of areas.
In English-speaking countries, it is used by all generations, so it is not outdated.

One of the earliest mentions of fancy dates back to 1545 in a translation of the “Apophthegma” by Nicholas Udall (British translator and playwright) and in his comedy Roister Doister, written in about 1552.
(Source: OED.com)

The online casino game "Fancy Fruits" is notorious. 🍍🍇🍉🥝

It is also the name of British figure skater Amani Fancy (b. 1997).

There is a German singer and music producer called Fancy, who celebrated his success in the 1980s.

CID x Taylr Renee deliver the latest with their song Fancy $hit from 2025.

The best-known hit is by Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX with their song 'Fancy' from 2014, as well as the K-pop band 'TWICE' with 'Fancy' from 2019.
The song ‘Fancy Like’ (2021) by US country star Walker Hayes gave rise to the TikTok trend of the dance of the same name.

Only Fancythatshit.com is more current.

What does Charli XCX mean when she says ‘fancy’?

IN IGGY AZALEA AND CHARLI XCX'S SONG ‘FANCY’ FROM 2014, IT'S NOT CLEAR WHAT EXACTLY IS FANCY, BUT CHARLI XCX SINGS THAT SHE IS. HER ‘I'M SO FANCY’ IS TRANSLATED BY MOST LYRIC TRANSLATORS AS ‘I'M SO WILD AND extraordinary’.

But how do I recognise when something is FANCY?
What does ‘That's so fancy’ mean? When do you use fancy?

The first time we at Fancythatshit.com discussed the term ‘fancy’ was in the summer of 2013 in a pub in Halle/Saale. At that time, the idea for the Fancythatshit.com design studio had not yet been born.

The women in the group mainly used the term ‘fancy’ to refer to eye-catching dresses, fashion and bandeaus:

@paulk_emily This lyrics says it all .. #outfit #edm #fancystyling ♬ Fancy $hit - CID & Taylr Renee

The men translated it as ‘flashy, unusual, wacky’, i.e. when they realised a daredevil crazy action, such as a parachute jump or in Star Wars gaming with a spaceship. Would you like to show others your unusual outfit or your crazy action? Then our hashtag #fancythatshit is just the thing for you!
Our shop will give you even more ideas!

Fancy Highlights for your Outfit

FANCY COMIC BANDANAS, SHIRTS, DRESSES AND MUCH MORE IN OUR SHOP!

But back to the history of the term ‘fancy’:

Cambridge Dictionary

‘Fancy’ exists both as an adjective and as a verb (to fancy). According to the Cambridge Dictionary, FANCY is defined as follows:

to want to have or do something:
Do you fancy a drink this evening?

to be sexually attracted to someone:
He could tell she fancied him.

fancy (Adjektiv) : "based on imagination" (also: visionary, fanciful, imaginative)

Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
dictionary/english/fancy

Engl. "I fancy that shit..."
= is used to express a desire.

USE OF 'FANCY'

‘Fancy’ [ˈfɛnsi] is an attribute that refers to an inspiring, stimulating, exuberant circumstance that expresses a certain flashy unusualness and thus deliberately provoked conspicuousness in a positive sense. The sender is signalled by the recipient of the stimulus, who uses the adjective ‘fancy’, that the sender has succeeded in attracting the attention of the recipient. The use of the word expresses the recipient's inclination or enthusiasm for an experience, a style, a person or their clothing.

And also: the mental faculty by which whims, visions and fantasies are evoked; imagination, especially of a whimsical or fantastic nature.

In some cases it is also used pejoratively to mean that it is ‘too much of a good thing’. To be full of oneself, to fancy oneself a marvellous thing (infinitive).
"fancy as frick"

Fancy Nails for Fancy Drink!

FANCYTHATSHIT.COM - FANCY NAILS FOR FANCY DRINK

Limbic Map

In the emotion and motive structure model of the Limbic Map with the three poles ‘stimulation’, ‘dominance’ and ‘balance’, the term FANCY is found roughly in the area of fantasy/pleasure as an intersection of stimulation and balance.

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Other stuff:
My sister studied abroad for years, so I asked her about her idea of ‘fancy’.
But she hadn't thought about it, so she gave a rigid answer. For her, ‘fancy’ simply meant ‘chic’.
And yes, ‘fancy’ can also be translated as ‘chic’. But what does fancy refer to? Clothing and accessories or does the word also apply to other areas? It's a much more dimensional and abstract term that is also used in hip hop, for example, and is applied to different areas.