Fey
Pronunciation
- IPA: /feɪ/
- Rhymes: -eɪ
- Homophones: fay
Alternative forms
Origin
From Middle English fey ("fated to die"), from Old English fÇ£ge ("doomed to die, timid"), from Proto-Germanic *faigijaz ("cowardly, wicked"), from Proto-Indo-European *pAik-, *pAig- ("ill-meaning, bad"). Akin to Old Saxon fÄ“gi 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 fÄh ("outlawed, hostile"). More at foe.
Full definition of fey
Adjective
fey
- Foresight an Irish term for foresight
- Magical or fairylike.
- Strange or otherworldly.
- Spellbound.
- (dialectal or archaic) About to die; fated; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.
- (obsolete) Dying; dead.
- (Chiefly Scottish) possessing second sight, clairvoyance, or clairaudience
- overrefined, precious; quaint, cute
- , 2006-01-01 , Jennifer Drapkin , Wrestling with Fame , Hoffman does not rely on his talent to carry him through a role. He spent five and a half months transmuting himself into Capote. … He lost 40 pounds and practiced the inscrutable voice and fey mannerisms for an hour or two every day.
- 2009 , Robert Cohen , Amateur Barbarians Chapter , He'd stand at the board making jokes the kids didn't understand, improvising fey little couplets of dactylic verse.
- 2009 , , Lucius Shepard , Halloween Town , … he did not tell Mary Alonso, who had taken Dell's place as a source of gossip and information, and with whom he went out for drinks on occasion, usually along with Mary's partner, Roberta, a fey, freckly, dark-haired girl, …
- 2011 , Héctor Tobar , The Barbarian Nurseries Chapter , Guadalupe was a fey mexicana with long braids and a taste for embroidered Oaxacan blouses and overwrought indigenous jewelry, and also a former university student like Araceli.
- 2012 , , , Field Guide: The Club Rules , bespoke
- 2012, , Jeffery Goldberg, What's Your Problem, Most Ivy League graduates are unaccustomed to pepper spray; perhaps he should spray himself in the face once or twice, to test his tolerance. He should also resist the urge to bring high-end camping equipment to protests—this will make him look fey and elitist.