What does "fancy" mean?

Our glossary: When and how is the term ‘fancy’ used in 2024?

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In English-speaking countries, it is used by all generations, so it is not outdated.

The country-pop crossover ‘Fancy’ by Bobbie Gentry from 1969 shows that it was used in earlier generations.
There is also a German singer and music producer called Fancy, who celebrated his success in the 1980s.

Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX delivered the most recent with the song ‘Fancy’ in 2014 and the K-pop band ‘TWICE’ with ‘Fancy’ from 2019.
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. 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!

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. "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.

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.