The superlative form of 'fancy,' meaning the most elaborate, decorative, expensive, or stylish.
From the adjective 'fancy' (decorated, stylish) plus the superlative suffix '-est.' 'Fancy' itself comes from 'fantasy' through a shortening process that occurred in Middle English.
The word 'fancy' originally meant 'produced by fantasy or imagination,' but by the 1500s it shifted to mean 'decorative' and 'expensive'—showing how what we imagine often becomes what we desire and buy!
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