fairy

Etymology

From Middle English faierie, fairie, from Old French faerie, from fae + -erie, from Vulgar Latin *Fāta (“goddess of fate”), from Latin fātum (“fate”). Equivalent to fey + -ry. Attested in English from about 1300, first in the sense of "enchantment, illusion, dream" ("that thou herdest is fairye") and shortly thereafter "realm of the fays, fairy-land" and "the inhabitants of fairyland, collectively". The re-interpretation of the term as a countable noun denoting individual inhabitants of fairy-land can be traced to the 1390s, but became common only in the 16th century, perhaps due to reinterpreting phrases like faerie knight.

noun

1. (uncountable, obsolete) The realm of faerie; enchantment, illusion.
2. A mythical being with magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although often depicted in modern illustrations only as a small sprite with gauze-like wings, and revered in some modern forms of paganism.
   They used to say there were fairies in that hill, I must tell you! 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 51
3. An enchantress, or creature of overpowering charm.
4. (Britain, obsolete, colloquial) An attractive young woman.
   "When are we going to see this fairy?" demanded Algy. "You, personally, never. You're far too immoral. I might let the others look at her from a distance in a year or two." 1920, H. C. McNeile "Snapper", 'Bulldog Drummond'
   As she took out her key she was quite unaware that three pairs of eyes were watching her with interest from across the street. … ‘Strewth–’e ain’t ‘arf got a fairy this time,’ remarked the husky Mr. Clegg. 1942, Dennis Wheatley, 'Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts'
5. (Northern England, US, derogatory, colloquial) A male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.
   The cripple returned the smile and stuck out his hand. Miss Lonelyhearts clasped it, and they stood this way, smiling and holding hands, until Mrs. Doyle reëntered the room. "What a sweet pair of fairies you guys are," she said. The cripple pulled his hand away and made as though to strike his wife. 1933, Nathanael West, 'Miss Lonelyhearts' : [Miss Lonelyhearts is male.]
   Wimpy names—e.g., Cecil, Clarence, and Wendell—also seem to carry homosexual overtones, because we all know that fairies are meek and wimpy, just as we know that all wimps are ‘fags’ in one sense or the other. 1989, Marshall Kirk, Hunter Madsen, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s, Doubleday Books, page 20
6. A member of two species of hummingbird in the genus Heliothryx.
7. A legendary Chinese immortal.

adj

1. Like a fairy; fanciful, whimsical, delicate.
   ….—a large cashmere shawl, with its border of roses, thrown carelessly on a chair—a crimson cushion, where lay sleeping a Blenheim dog, almost small enough to have passed through the royal ring in that most fairy tale of the White Cat:—all bespoke a lady's room.