Acafan
noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An academic who self-identifies as a member of fandom. slang
"[Flourish] Klink: Your story about the band member makes me think about fans' reactions to the academic articles they themselves are in. That's a productive comparison, I think - "fans are to acafen the way that band members are to RPF writers" - because I think it opens the door to discussing the competing ethical responsibilities we have. Part of defining oneself as an 'acafan,' I think, is about making an ethical commitment to the fan community, yes?"
Example
More examples"[Flourish] Klink: Your story about the band member makes me think about fans' reactions to the academic articles they themselves are in. That's a productive comparison, I think - "fans are to acafen the way that band members are to RPF writers" - because I think it opens the door to discussing the competing ethical responsibilities we have. Part of defining oneself as an 'acafan,' I think, is about making an ethical commitment to the fan community, yes?"
Etymology
Blend of academic + fan.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.