Slanhood

//ˈslænhʊd// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being a science fiction fan. dated, slang, uncountable

    "Because the central character in the story [Slan (1940) by A. E. van Vogt] was a youth in unsympathetic surroundings, and because of the obvious similarities to fans' dreams of greatness, the unserious claim to slanhood has become the Third Fandom parallel to the Second Fandom's half-serious Star-Begotten claims."

Example

More examples

"Because the central character in the story [Slan (1940) by A. E. van Vogt] was a youth in unsympathetic surroundings, and because of the obvious similarities to fans' dreams of greatness, the unserious claim to slanhood has become the Third Fandom parallel to the Second Fandom's half-serious Star-Begotten claims."

Etymology

From slan (“fan of science fiction”) + -hood (suffix denoting a condition or state of being). Slan is from the title of the science fiction novel Slan (1940) by Canadian-born author A. E. van Vogt (1912–2000), about persecuted – yet physically, mentally and morally superior – telepathic mutant humans.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.