BNF

English

Etymology 1

Noun

BNF (uncountable)

1. (computing) Initialism of Backus-Naur form. (originally Backus normal form).

   Could we write BNF for this instead of trying to describe it in text?

Derived terms

• ABNF

Etymology 2

Initialism of Big Name Fan.

Noun

BNF (plural BNFs)

1. (fandom slang) A famous member of fandom; a celebrity fan.
   • 1950 October, Lee Hoffman, “Chaos”, in Quandry‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 June 2011, page 5:

     COMING NEXT ISH: A department devoted to the BNF of tomorrow. 'Twill be the neofan of today who is the Tucker or Laney of tomorrow. So QUANDRY, the BNZ of tomorrow, will bring you biografies^[sic] of lesser known fen.

Derived terms

• BNFdom

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “BNF”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 17.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “BNF n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.