Faery

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, magical creature commonly found in folklore, often described as having an enchanting appearance and possessing powers beyond the ordinary
2. A supernatural entity represented in various cultures as a tiny, ethereal being, typically associated with nature, wonder, and enchantment
3. A mythical being often depicted as diminutive and enchanting, associated with natural settings and believed to possess magical abilities and qualities of wonder

Etymology: The surprising part is that "faery" started out as a word for enchantment itself, not for a creature. In Middle English, faierie meant "enchantment, illusion, dream," and it first appears in English around 1330, in the romance "King Alisaunder," where a character remarks that what he has heard "is fairye." Only later did the word name a realm of the fays, and then the people who lived there. The word came into English from Old French faerie, built from fae, a word for a supernatural being, plus the suffix -erie, which marks a state, a practice, or a place. Fae is in turn traced to Latin "fāta," meaning "goddess of fate," so the creatures were named after the powers that controlled destiny. The shift from a collective noun to a countable one happened gradually. The reinterpretation of the word as the name of individual inhabitants of fairyland can be traced to the 1390s, but it became common only in the 16th century, perhaps because phrases such as "faerie knight" were read as naming a single being.

Synonyms: fairy, elf, sprite, nymph, pixie

Antonyms: human, mortal, non-magical, ordinary, real