English Explanatory Dictionary

fairy tale

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A folktale or literary story featuring fairies or similar fantasy characters.
  2. The literary genre of these stories.
  3. A fabricated or misleading account meant to deceive, such as an exaggerated excuse.
  4. A delightful and ideal situation of a kind attained by very few.

Pronunciation

/ˈfɛɹi ˌteɪl/ /ˈfeəɹi ˌteɪl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fairy tale.wav

Word forms

fairy tale fairy tales fairy-tale fairytale faerie tale

Etymology

Calque of French conte de fées, coined by French writer Madame d'Aulnoy in the late 17th century.

Related words

fairy story

Derived words

fairy-tale fairy-tale-like
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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