--- title: Eminem's 'Stan' Is Now in the Oxford English Dictionary description: A word that originated from Eminem's song about obsessive fan "Stan" is now officially recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary. canonical: https://time.com/4801810/eminem-stan-oxford-english-dictionary/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-01T19:53:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:06.626Z og:title: 'Stan' Is Now in the Oxford English Dictionary og:description: It alludes to a popular Eminem single, here's what it means og:url: https://time.com/4801810/eminem-stan-oxford-english-dictionary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ce39be601a94b4/6988cfcfa988ca81d06bc7db/eminem-8-mile.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4211 og:image:height: 2369 og:image:alt: 170601_Eminem og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Stan' Is Now in the Oxford English Dictionary twitter:description: It alludes to a popular Eminem single, here's what it means twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ce39be601a94b4/6988cfcfa988ca81d06bc7db/eminem-8-mile.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Stan' Is Now an Officially Recognized Word in the Oxford English Dictionary So It's a Big Day for Eminem > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 1, 2017 7:53 PM UTC  Eminem looking over at Brittany Murphy in a scene from the film '8 Mile', 2002\. (Photo by Universal/Getty Images) Eminem looking over at Brittany Murphy in a scene from the film '8 Mile', 2002\. (Photo by Universal/Getty Images) Universal Archive Photos—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 1, 2017 7:53 PM UTC Oxford English Dictionary’s latest addition to the lexicon, the word “stan,” is often traced to one of rap’s greatest artists — none other than [Marshall Mathers, otherwise known to the world as Eminem](http://time.com/3601472/eminem-shady-xv/). The dictionary [officially defines a “stan”](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/stan) as “an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity” and cites the origin as “early 21st century” and “probably an allusion” to [the rapper’s seminal 2000 single “Stan.”](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1899935%5F1899936,00.html) The memorable track featured Dido and chronicled the fictional tale of an overzealous fan whose creepy obsession with Slim Shady leads to a fatal end for the fan and his pregnant girlfriend. In case you were wondering, the word can also be used as a verb, which the dictionary example describes thusly: “Y_‘all know I stan for Katy Perry, so I was excited to see the artwork for her upcoming album.”_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4801810/eminem-stan-oxford-english-dictionary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4801810/eminem-stan-oxford-english-dictionary/"},"headline":"'Stan' Is Now an Officially Recognized Word in the Oxford English Dictionary So It's a Big Day for Eminem","datePublished":"2017-06-01T19:53:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:06.626Z","description":"A word that originated from Eminem's song about obsessive fan \"Stan\" is now officially recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary.","url":"https://time.com/4801810/eminem-stan-oxford-english-dictionary/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Eminem","entertainment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ce39be601a94b4/6988cfcfa988ca81d06bc7db/eminem-8-mile.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ce39be601a94b4/6988cfcfa988ca81d06bc7db/eminem-8-mile.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170601_Eminem","caption":"Brittany Murphy And Eminem In '8 Mile'","creditText":"Universal Archive Photos—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4801810/eminem-stan-oxford-english-dictionary/","name":"'Stan' Is Now an Officially Recognized Word in the Oxford English Dictionary So It's a Big Day for Eminem"}}]}] ```