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Fey vs Fay - What's the difference?

fey | fay |

Fay is a synonym of fey.

Fay is a alternative form of fey.



As adjectives the difference between fey and fay

is that fey is about to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death while fay is white.

As nouns the difference between fey and fay

is that fey is fairy folk collectively while fay is a fairy; an elf.

As a verb fay is

to fit.

As a proper noun Fay is

{{surname|A=An|English|from=nicknames}}, originally a nickname from "faith, loyalty" or "a fairy".

fey

English

Alternative forms

* (l)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . More at (l).

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (dialectal, or, archaic) About to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.
  • (obsolete) Dying; dead.
  • (chiefly, Scottish) possessing second sight, clairvoyance, or clairaudience
  • overrefined, affected
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , date=2006-01-01 , year= , month= , first= , last= , author=Jennifer Drapkin , coauthors= , title=Wrestling with Fame , volume=39 , issue=1 , page=50 , magazine=Psychology Today , publisher= , issn= citation , passage=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. }}
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=2009 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Robert Cohen , title=Amateur Barbarians , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=Simon and Schuster , isbn=9780743230360 , page=16 , passage=He'd stand at the board making jokes the kids didn't understand, improvising fey little couplets of dactylic verse. }}
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , date= , year=2009 , month=Oct/Nov , first= , last= , author=Lucius Shepard , coauthors= , title=Halloween Town , volume=117 , issue=3/4 , page=129 , magazine=Fantasy and Science Fiction , publisher= , issn= , url= , passage= … 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, … }}
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=2011 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Héctor Tobar , title=The Barbarian Nurseries , chapter= , url= , genre= , publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux , isbn=9780374708931 , page= , passage=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. }}
  • * {{quote-magazine
  • , date= , year=2012 , month=Apr , first= , last= , author= , coauthors= , title=Field Guide: The Club Rules , volume= , issue= , page= , magazine=Town and Country , publisher= , issn= , url= , passage=Bespoke designer Kirk Miller, who offers a contemporary version at his Soho atelier, says, "A club collar shows that a man pays attention to detail. It's a simple way to communicate elegance." And please don't call it a Peter Pan, the club's fey sister. }}
  • * {{quote-web
  • , date= , year=2012 , first= , last= , author=Jeffery Goldberg , authorlink= , title=What's Your Problem , site=The Atlantic Montly citation , archiveorg= , accessdate=2012-09-17 , passage=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. }}
  • Strange or otherworldly.
  • Spellbound.
  • Derived terms

    * (l)

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) faie, . More at fairy.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Magical or fairylike.
  • Noun

    (-)
  • Fairy folk collectively.
  • See also

    * fay * fae ----

    fay

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) feyen, feien, from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fit.
  • To join or unite closely or tightly.
  • * US Patent Application 20070033853, 2006:
  • Under the four outer corners of the horizontal frame platform 22 are four tubular leg sleeves 23 that are fay together one at each outer corner.
  • * Model Shipbuilders , 2010:
  • I have a strip cutter and I can cut the exact widths I need to fit, they are easy to fay together and attach very firmly to the bulkheads.
  • To lie close together.
  • To fadge.
  • Derived terms
    * faying surface

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) fegien, . More at (l), (l), (l).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (dialectal) To cleanse; clean out.
  • Etymology 3

    (etyl) faie, . More at fairy.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fairy; an elf.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.ii:
  • that mighty Princesse did complaine / Of grieuous mischiefes, which a wicked Fay / Had wrought [...].
    See also
    * fey * fae

    Etymology 4

    Abbreviation of (ofay).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A white person.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • White.
  • * 1946 , Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues , Payback Press 1999, p. 62:
  • I really went for Ray's press roll on the drums; he was the first fay boy I ever heard who mastered this vital foundation of jazz music.

    Anagrams

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