Fayre

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. An old form of fair meaning lovely or pleasing to look at ; a long-ago term for a gathering where goods were traded and entertainment offered
2. Archaic word for something beautiful or attractive to behold ; an older name for a public market or festival with stalls and amusements
3. Historic spelling of the adjective describing outward loveliness ; an obsolete noun for a periodic market or celebration with trade and sport

Etymology: The word "fayre" for a medieval trade festival is a spelling of "fair" that was reached by a different route. Its ancestor is the Old French "foire," which came from the Latin "feriae," meaning holidays or festival days. Religious feast days were the occasions when crowds gathered, and merchants gathered with them, so a holiday came to mean the market held on it. The same Latin root gave English the adjective "fair," but that comes from a separate Old English source, "fæġer," meaning beautiful or pleasing. Medieval English spelling was loose, so the two words, one meaning a market and the other meaning lovely, ended up written almost identically and were easily confused. The spelling "fayre" keeps the older form of this trade sense alive, and it is now mostly seen in historical and deliberately old-fashioned contexts.