English Explanatory Dictionary

fey

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. About to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.
  2. Dying; dead.
  3. Possessing second sight, clairvoyance, or clairaudience.
  4. Overrefined, affected.
  5. Strange or otherworldly.
  6. Spellbound.
adj
  1. Magical or fairylike.
noun
  1. A fairy.
  2. Fairy folk collectively.
noun
  1. Alternative form of pe (“Semitic letter”).
verb
  1. To cleanse.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/feɪ/ en-us-fey.ogg

Word forms

fey feyer more fey feyest most fey feys feying feyed

Etymology

From Middle English feye (“fated to die”), from Old English fǣġe (“doomed to die, timid”), from Proto-West Germanic *faigī, from Proto-Germanic *faigijaz (“cowardly, wicked”), from Proto-Indo-European *peyk- (“ill-meaning, bad”). Akin to Old Saxon fēgi, whence Dutch veeg (“doomed, near death”), Old High German feigi (“appointed for death, ungodly”) whence German feige (“cowardly”), Old Norse feigr (“doomed”) whence the Icelandic feigur (“doomed to die”), Old English fāh (“outlawed, hostile”). More at foe.

Synonyms

accursed undone condemned cursed sunk cussed damned dead meat doomed done fey finished ill-fated lost sentenced lifeless moribund asleep at rest blessed cadaverous clay-cold deceased resting decomposed defunct departed expired extinct gone good inanimate inert kaput killed late living impaired low no longer with us no more perished reposing six feet deep six feet under stiff unalive unalived wasted whilom with God psychic second-sighted sibylline effete stagy affected recherché hoity-toity overrefined pansified

Related words

fay fae

Derived words

feydom feyly feyness
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