fairy

Meanings

Noun

• The realm of faerie; enchantment, illusion.
• 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.
• An enchantress, or creature of overpowering charm.
• A male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.
• A member of two species of hummingbird in the genus Heliothryx.

Adjective

• Like a fairy; fanciful, whimsical, delicate.

Related

Similar words

• fay, fey, fae, sprite; see also goblin
• fag , faggot , poof , queen

Origin

• From Middle English fairye, fairie, from Old French faerie, from fae + -erie, from Vulgar Latin *Fāta ("goddess of fate"), from Latin fātum ("fate"). Equivalent to fey + -ry.
• 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.