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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

fay.

To fit, to add.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/feɪ/
  1. To fit, to add.

    obsolete
  2. To join (pieces of timber) tightly. The long edges of the staves of a barrel have to be fayed so that when it is assembled it will not leak.

    transitive
  3. Of pieces of timber: to lie close together.

    intransitive
  4. To fadge.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English feyen, feien, from Old English fēġan (“to join, unite”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōgijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōgijaną (“to join”), from *fōgō (“joint, slot”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Akin to Saterland Frisian fougje (“to join, add”), West Frisian foegje (“to join, add”), Dutch voegen (“to add, place”), German Low German fögen (“to join, add”), German fügen (“to connect”), Old English fōn (“to catch”). More at fang.

adj/feɪ/
  1. Fitted closely together.

Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English feyen, feien, from Old English fēġan (“to join, unite”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōgijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōgijaną (“to join”), from *fōgō (“joint, slot”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Akin to Saterland Frisian fougje (“to join, add”), West Frisian foegje (“to join, add”), Dutch voegen (“to add, place”), German Low German fögen (“to join, add”), German fügen (“to connect”), Old English fōn (“to catch”). More at fang.

noun/feɪ/
  1. A fairy.

Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English faie, fei (“a place or person possessed with magical properties”), from Middle French feie, fée (“fairy", "fae”), from Old French fae, from Medieval Latin fāda. More at fairy.

adj/feɪ/
  1. Fairy-like.

Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English faie, fei (“a place or person possessed with magical properties”), from Middle French feie, fée (“fairy", "fae”), from Old French fae, from Medieval Latin fāda. More at fairy.

noun/feɪ/
  1. faith

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English fei, from Old French fei

verb/feɪ/
  1. To cleanse; clean out.

    dialectal
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English feien (“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.

noun/feɪ/
  1. A white person.

    US · slang
Where this word comes from

Abbreviation of ofay.

adj/feɪ/
  1. White; white-skinned.

    US · slang
Where this word comes from

Abbreviation of ofay.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.