adj
Meaning 1
Fitted closely together.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
fay
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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fā
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/feɪ/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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homophone: fey
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rhymes with -eɪ
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CMU ARPABET: F EY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Fairy-like.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
White; white-skinned.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 4
An Anglo-Irish surname transferred from the nickname, Anglicized from de Fae a Norman family that settled in Ireland.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 5
A surname from Irish, anglicized from Ó Fiaich and Ó Fathaigh. (see Fahey.)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 6
A female given name, pet form of Faith or Frances; often used as a middle name.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 7
A place name:
A commune in Orne department, Normandy, France.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 8
A place name:
A commune in Sarthe department, Pays de la Loire, France.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 9
A place name:
A commune in Somme department, Hauts-de-France, France.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 10
A place name:
An unincorporated community in Ozark County, Missouri, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 11
A place name:
A census-designated place in Dewey County, Oklahoma, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 12
A fairy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 13
faith
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 14
A white person.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 15
To fit, to add.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 16
To join (pieces of timber) tightly. The long edges of the staves of a barrel have to be fayed so that when it is assembled it will not leak.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Topics: business, manufacturing, shipbuilding
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 17
Of pieces of timber: to lie close together.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Topics: business, manufacturing, shipbuilding
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 18
To fadge.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 19
To cleanse; clean out.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dialectal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 20
a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: fairy, faery, faerie, sprite
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: spiritual being, supernatural being
Narrower terms: elf, hob, gremlin, pixie, pixy, brownie, imp, fairy godmother, gnome, dwarf, Morgan le Fay, Puck, Robin Goodfellow, Oberson, Titania, tooth fairy, water sprite, water nymph, water spirit
History
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English feyen, feien, from Old English fēġan (“to join, unite”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōgijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōgijaną (“to join”), from *fōgō (“joint, slot”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh2ḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Akin to Saterland Frisian fougje (“to join, add”), West Frisian foegje (“to join, add”), Dutch voegen (“to add, place”), German Low German fögen (“to join, add”), German fügen (“to connect”), Old English fōn (“to catch”). More at fang.
Inherited from Middle English faie, fei (“a place or person possessed with magical properties”), from Middle French feie, fée (“fairy", "fae”), from Old French fae, from Medieval Latin fāda. More at fairy.
Abbreviation of ofay.
From Middle English fei, from Old French fei
Inherited from Middle English feien (“to cleanse”), from Old Norse fægja (“to cleanse, polish”), from Proto-Germanic *fēgijaną (“to decorate, make beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōḱ-, *pēḱ- (“to clean, adorn”). Cognate with Swedish feja (“to sweep”), Danish feje (“to sweep”), German fegen (“to cleanse, scour, sweep”), Dutch vegen (“to sweep, strike”). More at feague, fake, fair.
Across languages
Translations
9 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: фея (feja) — fairy, elf
- French: fée — fairy, elf
- Hebrew: פיה (fejá) — fairy, elf
- Hungarian: manó — fairy, elf
- Lithuanian: fėja — fairy, elf
- Russian: фе́я (féja) — fairy, elf
- Chinese Mandarin: 白人 (báirén) — US slang: a white person
- Japanese: 白人 (hakujin) — US slang: a white person
- Dutch: voegen — to join or unite closely or tightly