fay
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: fā, IPA(key): /feɪ/
- Homophone: fey
- Rhymes: -eɪ
Etymology 1
From Middle English feyen, feien, from Old English fēġan (“to join, unite”), from Proto-Germanic *fōgijaną (“to join”), from *fōgō (“joint, slot”), from Proto-Indo-European *paḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Akin to Old Frisian fōgia (“to join”), Old Saxon fōgian (“to join”), Middle Low German fögen (“to join, add”), Dutch voegen (“to add, place”), Old High German fuogen (“to connect”) (German fügen (“to connect”)), Old English fōn (“to catch”). More at fang.
Verb
fay (third-person singular simple present fays, present participle faying, simple past and past participle fayed)
Synonyms
- (to join or unite closely): affix, attach, put together; see also Thesaurus:join
Derived terms
Translations
Adjective
fay (comparative more fay, superlative most fay)
- Fitted closely together.
- 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.
- US Patent Application 20070033853, 2006:
Etymology 2
From Middle English fegien, fæien (“to cleanse”), from Old Norse fægja (“to cleanse, polish”), from Proto-Germanic *fēgijaną (“to decorate, make beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōḱ-, *pēḱ- (“to clean, adorn”). Cognate with Swedish feja (“to sweep”), Danish feje (“to sweep”), German fegen (“to cleanse, scour, sweep”), Dutch vegen (“to sweep, strike”). More at feague, fake, fair.
Verb
fay (third-person singular simple present fays, present participle faying, simple past and past participle fayed)
Translations
Etymology 3
Middle English faie, fei (“a place or person possessed with magical properties”), from Middle French feie, fee (“fairy", "fae”). More at fairy.
Noun
fay (plural fays)
- A fairy.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ii:
- that mighty Princesse did complaine / Of grieuous mischiefes, which a wicked Fay / Had wrought [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ii:
Synonyms
- See fairy
Translations
Etymology 4
Abbreviation of ofay.