fey

English

WOTD - 14 April 2007    

Alternative forms

• fay

Etymology

From Middle English fey (“fated to die”), from Old English fǣge (“doomed to die, timid”), from Proto-Germanic *faigijaz (“cowardly, wicked”), from Proto-Indo-European *pAik-, *pAig- (“ill-meaning, bad”). Akin to Old Saxon fēgi whence Dutch veeg (“doomed, near death”), Old High German feigi (“appointed for death, ungodly”) whence German feige (“cowardly”), Old Norse feigr (“doomed”) whence the Icelandic feigur (“doomed to die”), Old English fāh (“outlawed, hostile”). More at foe.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /feɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: fay

Adjective

fey (comparative more fey, superlative most fey)

1. Magical or fairylike.
2. Strange or otherworldly.
3. Spellbound.
4. (dialectal or archaic) About to die; fated; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.
5. (obsolete) Dying; dead.

Derived terms

• faydom

Translations

magical or fairylike

French: magique (fr)

Spanish: mágico (es)

strange or otherworldly

French: détaché du monde Russian: не от мира сего (ru)

Spanish: please add this translation if you can

spellbound

French: envoûté (fr)

Spanish: embelesado (es)

doomed to die

Icelandic: feigur (is) m. Russian: обречённый (ru)

Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Noun

fey (uncountable)

1. Fairy folk collectively.

See also

• fay
• fae

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Mapudungun

Pronoun

fey (using Raguileo Alphabet)

1. Third-person singular personal pronoun. he, she, it.

See also

• feyegvn
• feyegu

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Scots

Noun

fey (plural feys)

1. a premonition of death

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Volapük

Noun

fey (plural feys)

1. fairy

Declension

declension of fey

	singular	plural
nominative	fey	feys
genitive	feya	feyas
dative	feye	feyes
accusative	feyi	feyis
predicative	feyu	feyus
vocative	o fey!	o feys!