Fairyとは 意味・読み方・使い方

別の表記

• faery, faëry
• faerie, faërie
• færie (archaic, nonstandard)
• fairie

語源

From 中期英語 faierie, fairie, from Old French faerie, from fae + -erie, from Latin fāta (“goddess of fate”). Equivalent to fay +‎ -ry. Attested in English from about 1330, in King Alisaunder, 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.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈfɛəɹi/
• (General Australian) IPA: /ˈfeː.ɹi/
• (General American) enPR: fârʹē
  • (without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA: /ˈfɛə̯ɹ.i/
  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA: /ˈfɛɹ.i/
• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA: /ˈfeə.ɹi/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA: /ˈfiə.ɹi/
• (Scotland) IPA: /ˈfeɹ.ɪ/, /ˈfeɹe/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA: /ˈfɜːɹɪ/
• 異形同音異義語: ferry (Mary–marry–merry merger), furry (fair–fur merger)
• 韻: -ɛəɹi

名詞

fairy (countable and uncountable, plural fairies)

1. (uncountable, obsolete) The realm of faerie; enchantment, illusion.
2. (mythology) A mythical being of human form with magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although often depicted in modern illustrations only as a small sprite with gauze-like wings, especially one that is female. Fairies are revered in some modern forms of paganism.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 51:

     "They used to say there were fairies in that hill, I must tell you!"

3. An enchantress, or creature of overpowering charm.
4. (British, obsolete, colloquial) An attractive young woman.
   • 1920, H. C. McNeile "Snapper", 'Bulldog Drummond'‎:

     "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."

   • 1942, Dennis Wheatley, 'Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts'‎:

     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.

5. (Northern England, US, derogatory, colloquial) A male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.
6. (derogatory) An effeminate man or boy.
   • 1933, Nathanael West, 'Miss Lonelyhearts' : [Miss Lonelyhearts is male.]:

     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.

   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 4, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 3:

     We saw a horrible sight in the bar: a white hipster fairy had come in wearing a Hawaiian shirt and was asking the big drummer if he could sit in.

   • 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:

     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.

7. A member of two species of hummingbird in the genus Heliothryx.
8. A legendary Chinese immortal.

   Synonyms: xian, immortal

同意語

• (supernatural creature): fay, fey, fae, sprite; see also goblin (hostile)
• (male homosexual): fag (US), faggot (US), poof (UK), queen

派生語

形容詞

fairy (comparative more fairy, superlative most fairy)

1. Like a fairy; fanciful, whimsical, delicate.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 287:
     ….—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.

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