different between fay vs faw

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: f?, IPA^(key): /fe?/
• Homophone: fey
• Rhymes: -e?

Etymology 1

From Middle English feyen, feien, from Old English f??an (“to join, unite”), from Proto-Germanic *f?gijan? (“to join”), from *f?g? (“joint, slot”), from Proto-Indo-European *pa?- (“to fasten, place”). Akin to Old Frisian f?gia (“to join”), Old Saxon f?gian (“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 f?n (“to catch”). More at fang.

Verb

fay (third-person singular simple present fays, present participle faying, simple past and past participle fayed)

1. To fit.
2. To join or unite closely or tightly.
   • 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.

3. To lie close together.
4. To fadge.

Synonyms

• (to join or unite closely): affix, attach, put together; see also Thesaurus:join

Derived terms

• faying surface

Translations

Adjective

fay (comparative more fay, superlative most fay)

1. 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.

Etymology 2

From Middle English fegien, fæien (“to cleanse”), from Old Norse fægja (“to cleanse, polish”), from Proto-Germanic *f?gijan? (“to decorate, make beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *p??-, *p??- (“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)

1. (dialectal) To cleanse; clean out.

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)

1. A fairy.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ii:

     that mighty Princesse did complaine / Of grieuous mischiefes, which a wicked Fay / Had wrought [...].

Synonyms

• See fairy

Translations

Adjective

fay (comparative more fay, superlative most fay)

1. Fairy like.

See also

• fey
• fae

Etymology 4

Abbreviation of ofay.

Noun

fay (plural fays)

1. (US slang) A white person.

Translations

Adjective

fay (comparative more fay, superlative most fay)

1. (US slang) White; white-skinned.
   • 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.

Translations

Anagrams

• FYA, YAF

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English f?g.

Noun

fay

1. Alternative form of fou

Etymology 2

From Old English f??e.

Adjective

fay

1. Alternative form of fey (“marked for death”)

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??/
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

Onomatopoetic.

Interjection

faw

1. Alternative form of faugh

Synonyms

• (disgust): bleah, eww, ick, pooh, uck; see also Thesaurus:yuck
• (contempt): feh, pfaugh, pish, pshaw, pooh; see also Thesaurus:bah

Etymology 2

Phonetic rendering of for.

Preposition

faw

1. Pronunciation spelling of for; chiefly used to represent the accent of slaves in the United States.
   • 1907, George Washington Cable, Old Creole Days, Gutenberg eBook #10234,

     “ […] Now, Colossus, what air you a-beckonin? at me faw?”

Etymology 3

From the surname Faa.

Noun

faw (plural faws)

1. A gypsy.

Anagrams

• FWA, WAF

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English fawe, fa?e, from Old English f?g, f?h (“coloured; stained; dyed; tinged; shining; variegated”), from Proto-West Germanic *faih, from Proto-Germanic *faihaz (“coloured; motley”), from Proto-Indo-European *pey?- (“to paint; mark; colour”).

Adjective

faw (comparative mair faw, superlative maist faw)

1. Of various colours; variegated