fairy

English

Alternative forms

• faery
• faerie

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English fairye, fairie, from Old French faerie, from fae + -erie, from Vulgar Latin *Fāta (“goddess of fate”), from Latin fātum (“fate”).

English from ca. 1300, first in the sense of "enchantment, illusion, dream" and later "realm of the fays, fairy-land" or "the inhabitants of fairyland as a collective". The re-interpretation of the term as a countable noun denoting individual inhabitants of fairy-land can be traced to the 1390s, but becomes common only in the 16th century.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fâʹrĭ, IPA^(key): /ˈfɛəɹi/, /ˈfɛəɹɪ/
• enPR: fĕʹrē, IPA^(key): /ˈfɛɹi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛːɹɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

fairy (countable and uncountable, plural fairies)

1. (uncountable, obsolete) The realm of faerie; enchantment, illusion.
2. A mythical being with magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although often depicted in modern illustrations only as a small sprite with gauze-like wings, and revered in some modern forms of paganism.
3. An enchantress, or creature of overpowering charm.
4. (Northern England, US, derogatory, colloquial) A male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.
5. A member of two species of hummingbird in the genus Heliothryx.

Synonyms

• (supernatural creature): fay, fey, fae, sprite; see also goblin (hostile)
• (male homosexual): fag (US), faggot (US), poof (UK), queen

Derived terms

• airy-fairy
• fairy bread
• fairy chess
• fairy circle
• fairy cycle
• fairy dust
• fairy floss
• fairyfloss
• fairy godmother
• fairyland
• fairy lights
• fairy lily
• fairy liquid
• fairy primrose
• fairy ring
• fairy ring champignon
• fairy shrimp
• fairy story
• fairy tale
• fairy-tale, fairytale
• fairy thorn
• fairy wren
• tooth fairy
• water fairy

 

Translations

mythical being

• Albanian: zanë (sq) f
• Arabic: جِنِّيَّة f (jinniyya), سَاحِرَة f (sāḥira)
• Armenian: փերի (hy) (pʻeri), կյուս (kyus)
• Aromanian: dzãnã f
• Asturian: fada f
• Azerbaijani: pəri
• Belarusian: фе́я f (fjéja), чараўні́ца f (čaraŭníca)
• Bulgarian: фе́я (bg) f (féja), магьосница (bg) f (magjosnica)
• Catalan: fada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 仙女 (zh) (xiānnǔ)

• Cornish: spyrys m, fay m
• Czech: víla (cs) f
• Danish: fe c, alf (da) c
• Dutch: fee (nl) f
• Erzya: шенгава (šengava)
• Esperanto: feino
• Estonian: haldjas (et)
• Finnish: keiju (fi), keijukainen (fi) (small with wings); haltija (fi) m, haltijatar (fi) f, (human-like)
• French: fée (fr) f
• Galician: fada f
• Georgian: ფერია (peria)
• German: Fee (de) f, Elfe (de) f
• Greek: νεράιδα (el) f (neráida)
• Hebrew: פֵיָה (he) f (feyá)
• Hindi: परी (hi) f (parī)
• Hungarian: tündér (hu)
• Indonesian: peri (id)
• Irish: bean sí f, sióg, síogaí m, daoine maithe m pl

  Middle Irish: áes side m

  Old Irish: áes síde m, síde n pl, ben síde f, síd n (attributively)

• Italian: fata (it) f, foletto m, foletta f, folletto (it) m, folletta f
• Japanese: 妖精 (ja) (ようせい, yōsei), 仙女 (ja) (せんにょ, sennyo), フェアリー (fearī)
• Kazakh: пері (perı)
• Korean: 페어리 (peeori), 요정 (ko) (yojeong)
• Kyrgyz: пери (ky) (peri), перизат (ky) (perizat)
• Latin: diva (la) f, alfa f, divus (la) m, divus (la) m, alfus m, fada f
• Latvian: feja f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: fėja
• Macedonian: вила f (vila), самовила f (samovila), волшебничка f (volšebnička)
• Malay: pari-pari, pepari
• Maltese: saħħara f, feri m
• Manx: shee m, sheeaghan m, ferrish, (collectively) mooinjer veggey f
• Maori: heketoro, tūrehu, karitehe, kōrakorako, patupaiarehe, tahurangi
• Middle English: elf
• Middle High German: alp m
• Norman: fée f
• Norwegian: fe (no)
• Old English: ælf
• Old Saxon: alf
• Persian: پری (fa) (pari)
• Polish: wróżka (pl), wiła f (demon being)
• Portuguese: fada (pt) f, elfo (pt) m, elfo (pt) m
• Romanian: zână (ro) f
• Russian: фе́я (ru) f (féja), волше́бница (ru) f (volšébnica)
• Scottish Gaelic: sìthiche m, bean-shìdh f, (collectively) sluagh sìdhe m, (attributively) sìth
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вила f, вилењак m

  Roman: vila (sh) f, vilenjak (sh) m

• Slovak: víla f
• Slovene: vila (sl) f
• Spanish: hada (es) f
• Swahili: kichimbakazi
• Swedish: fe (sv) c, älva (sv) c
• Tagalog: ada (tl), diwata (tl)
• Tajik: парӣ (tg) (parī)
• Thai: นางฟ้า (th) (naang-fáa)
• Turkish: peri (tr), irşi, tüngür (tr)
• Turkmen: jadygöý (tk)
• Ukrainian: фе́я f (féja), чарівни́ця f (čarivnýcja)
• Urdu: پری f (parī)
• Uzbek: pari (uz), sohira
• Vietnamese: tiên (vi), nàng tiên (vi) f
• Volapük: (♂♀) fey (vo), (♂) hifey, (♀) jifey
• Welsh: tylwyth teg

(derogatory slang) effeminate male homosexual

• Bulgarian: педераст m (pederast)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同性戀／同性恋 (zh) (tóngxìngliàn), 同性恋 (zh) (tóngxìnglìan)

• Czech: teplouš (cs)
• Danish: bøsse (da)
• Finnish: hintti (fi), naismainen mies
• French: tapette (fr) f, folle (fr) f
• Indonesian: maho (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: checca (it) f, finocchio (it) m
• Polish: ciota (pl) f, pedzio (pl) m, szwagier (pl) m, teściu m
• Portuguese: bicha (pt) m or f, marica (pt) m or f
• Romanian: zână (ro) f
• Russian: го́мик (ru) m (gómik), мужело́жец (ru) m (muželóžec), содоми́т (ru) m (sodomít)
• Slovak: teploš
• Spanish: marica (es) m, mujercita (es) m

Adjective

fairy

1. Like a fairy; fanciful, whimsical, delicate.