different between fairy vs ouphe

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Middle English fairye, fairie, from Old French faerie, from fae + -erie, from Vulgar Latin *F?ta (“goddess of fate”), from Latin f?tum (“fate”). Equivalent to Fate +? -ery.

English from ca. 1300, first in the sense of "enchantment, illusion, dream" and later "realm of the fays, fairy-land" or "the inhabitants of fairyland as a collective".The re-interpretation of the term as a countable noun denoting individual inhabitants of fairy-land can be traced to the 1390s, but becomes common only in the 16th century.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f????i/
• (General American) enPR: fâr??
  • (Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /?f????i/
  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /?f??i/
• Rhymes: -???i
• Homophone: ferry (in accents with the Mary-marry-merry merger)

Noun

fairy (countable and uncountable, plural fairies)

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.
3. An enchantress, or creature of overpowering charm.
4. (Northern England, US, derogatory, colloquial) A male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.
   • 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.

5. A member of two species of hummingbird in the genus Heliothryx.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

fairy

1. Like a fairy; fanciful, whimsical, delicate.

English

Alternative forms

• aulf

Etymology

From the same origin as oaf (“elf child”).

Noun

ouphe (plural ouphes)

1. (obsolete) A small, often mischievous sprite; a fairy; a goblin; an elf.
   • 1602, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 5, Scene 4, 1768, John Baskerville, Alexander Pope (editors), The Works of Shakespear, Volume 1, page 301,

     Strew good luck, ouphes, on every ?acred room, / That it may ?tand 'till the perpetual Doom, / In ?tate as whol?om, as in ?tate 'tis fit; / Worthy the owner, as the owner it.

   • 1835, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay, 1899, The Culprit Fa[y], page 4,

     For an Ouphe has broken his vestal vow; / He has loved an earthly maid, / And left for her his woodly shade;

   • 1835, Review of The Culprit Fay and Other Poems by Joseph Rodman Drake and Alnwick Castle by Fitz-Greene Halleck, Southern Literary Messenger, Volume 2, page 329,

     The plot is as follows. An Ouphe, one of the race of Fairies, has "broken his vestal vow," […] in short, he has broken Fairy-law in becoming enamored of a mortal.