DictionaryAI

fairy

SayFAIR-ee/ˈfɛɹ.i/UK/ˈfɛəɹi/

Pluralfairies

7 meanings of fairy

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable or uncountable
    A mythical being of human form with magical powers, pictured in many sizes and forms, though modern illustrations often show only a tiny sprite with gauzy wings, especially a female one.

    People in the valley believed that fairies lived inside the green mound behind the church.

    In the story, a fairy grants the girl three wishes but warns her to choose carefully.

    Similarsprite, pixie

    Note

    Folk belief gave fairies a home in the landscape: in H. L. Brækstad's 1881 translation of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen's Norwegian tales, people "used to say there were fairies in that hill". Fairies are also revered in some modern forms of paganism, where the word names something taken seriously rather than a nursery character, and a careful writer allows for both.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • H. L. Brækstad's translation of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen's Norwegian tales was published in 1881 as Round the Yule Log: Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales. en.wikisource.org
    • The translation contains the quoted words, illustrating belief that fairies inhabited a hill; the speaker is Matthias the hunter. fiftywordsforsnow.com
    • Fairies are revered in some modern forms of paganism. en.wiktionary.org
    • Some modern pagans take fairies seriously as spiritual beings. thelasttuesdaysociety.org
  2. 2
    fancifuladjective
    Like a fairy in being fanciful, whimsical, or delicate.

    The old woman's lacework was of such fairy delicacy that visitors were afraid to touch it.

    The dancer crossed the stage with a fairy lightness, barely seeming to touch the floor.

    Similarethereal, delicate, dreamlike, magical, whimsical

  3. 3
    nounslangderogatorycountable or uncountable
    Offensive: an insulting word for a gay man, or for a man or boy regarded as effeminate.
    Note

    The word works as a slur throughout the English-speaking world, attacking a man twice over: for his sexuality and for seeming feminine. As a slur, it is meant to wound.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of fairy apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Latin fāta ("goddess of fate") lies behind Old French fae, which with -erie formed faerie, the source of Middle English faierie or fairie. In English terms it is fay + -ry. Records start around 1330, when it meant "enchantment, illusion, dream," and soon after it also meant "fairyland" and the people of fairyland as a group. Calling a single inhabitant a fairy dates to the 1390s but only caught on in the 16th century, perhaps through phrases like faerie knight.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 10 facts

  • Latin fāta means a goddess of fate. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old French fae derives from Latin fata. en.wikipedia.org
  • Old French faerie was formed from fae and -erie. en.wikipedia.org
  • Middle English faierie or fairie, ancestral to fairy, was borrowed from Old French faerie. en.wiktionary.org
  • The English formation is equivalent to fay + -ry. en.wiktionary.org
  • English attestations begin around 1330 with the sense enchantment, illusion or dream. en.wiktionary.org
  • The early meanings subsequently included fairyland and its inhabitants collectively. gutenberg.org
  • The interpretation referring to an individual inhabitant dates to the 1390s. en.wiktionary.org
  • The individual-being sense became common in the sixteenth century. gutenberg.org
  • Reinterpretation of expressions such as faerie knight is a proposed explanation for the individual-being sense. en.wiktionary.org