[ fə'natɪk ]
■ noun a person filled with excessive zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause.
↘ informal a person with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby.
■ adjective filled with or expressing excessive zeal.
Derivatives
~ism noun
~ize or ~ise verb
Word History
The word ~ derives from Latin ~us , meaning 'of a temple' or 'inspired by a god', from fanum 'temple'. It was first used in the 16th century, as an adjective describing behaviour or speech that might result from possession by a god or demon; hence the earliest sense of the noun 'a religious maniac'. Another English word deriving ultimately from fanum is profane , which comes from Latin profanus , meaning 'outside the temple'.