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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

function.

What something does or is used for.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfʌŋkʃn̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfʊŋ(k)ʃən/Northern-England/ˈfʊŋkʃn̩/Northern-England

  1. What something does or is used for.

  2. A professional or official position.

  3. An official or social occasion.

    Our hotel is hosting a function for all the warehouse workers on the night of April 18.

  4. An official or social occasion. A party.

    slang

  5. Something which is dependent on or stems from another thing; a result or concomitant.

  6. A relation where one thing is dependent on another for its existence, value, or significance.

  7. A relation in which each element of the domain is associated with exactly one element of the codomain.

  8. A routine that receives zero or more arguments and may return a result.

  9. The physiological activity of an organ or body part.

  10. The characteristic behavior of a chemical compound.

  11. The role of a social practice in the continued existence of the group.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg-der. Proto-Italic *fungōr Latin fungor Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin fūnctiō Old French fonction Middle French functionbor. English function From Middle French function, from Old French fonction, from Latin functiō (“performance, execution”), from functus, perfect participle of fungor (“to perform, execute, discharge”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg- (“to enjoy”).

verb/ˈfʌŋ(k)ʃən/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfʌŋkʃn̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈfʊŋ(k)ʃən/Northern-England/ˈfʊŋkʃn̩/Northern-England

  1. To have a function.

    intransitive

  2. To carry out a function; to be in action.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg-der. Proto-Italic *fungōr Latin fungor Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin fūnctiō Old French fonction Middle French functionbor. English function From Middle French function, from Old French fonction, from Latin functiō (“performance, execution”), from functus, perfect participle of fungor (“to perform, execute, discharge”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg- (“to enjoy”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.