Piskie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, mischievous spirit in folklore known for leading travelers astray
2. A mythical creature often associated with the west country of England, particularly in tales that involve trickery
3. A type of faerie believed to be playful yet capricious, sometimes helping but often causing mischief for humans

Etymology: Pixies and piskies are the same creature under two spellings, and nobody has settled where the name came from. It first appears in the 17th century as part of the folklore of southwest England, the region where the "piskie" spelling is still most at home. The sharpest guess links it to "pysk", a dialect word for "fairy" in Swedish, which would make an English folk name borrowed from Scandinavia, though no one has explained how a Swedish dialect term reached Cornwall and Devon. The other proposal is homegrown. It treats the word as a diminutive of "Puck", the mischievous sprite of English folklore, with the "-sy" ending that English dialects often attach to small or affectionate names. This is also unproven, but it fits the creature's character: pixies were known for leading travellers astray and playing tricks on households, so a name built from a trickster's name is plausible. Neither theory has been confirmed, so the origin remains open.

Synonyms: pixie