fairy English · revision 7958

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=la fata}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfɛəɹi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English fairie, fayrye, [[bor|fro|faerie|t=land of fairies, meeting of fairies]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from fae, fee, a fairy (see [[fay]]), and -erie (see [[-ery]]),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) from Latin [[m|la|fata|t=the Fates]], plural of fātum (see [[fate]]).^(Cresswell 2021)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Enchantment, an illusion: probably before 1300, in ''Kyng Alisaunder'';^(Barnhart 1988) the land of the fays, fairyland, about 1300.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Faerie was originally the collective term, with fae or fay the singular,^(Cresswell 2021) and fairy-folk is an obsolete sense of about 1320.^(OED 1989) A supernatural being dwelling in fairyland is from the late 14th century (1393, in Gower),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and Chaucer wrote ''ther been no fairyes''.^(Etymonline) Hoad notes that applying the word to a single being is peculiar to English.^(Hoad 1986) The sense may have shifted from place to inhabitant through forms such as fairie knight.^(Etymonline) In Spenser's ''Faerie Queene'' fairies are still heroic and human-sized,^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) and the tiny winged beings of children's stories are from the early 17th century.^(Etymonline) Trench notes that it was once applied to the spirits of classical antiquity.^(Trench 1859) ''Fairy tale'' (1749, in Walpole's letters) translates French conte de fées.^(Barnhart 1988) As an offensive word for a homosexual man it is a modern slang sense.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1300 – enchantment.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1320 – fairy-folk.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1393 – a supernatural being.^(OED 1989)

+ * early 17th century – tiny winged beings.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1749 – fairy tale.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An imaginary tiny being in human form with magical powers, often clever and mischievous.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(offensive slang)'' A homosexual man.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or like fairies; delicate.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fairylike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fay]]

+ * [[faerie]]

+ * [[fate]]

+ * [[fairy tale]]

+ * [[fairyland]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Away with the fairies'' means out of touch with reality.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}