This week’s theme
Illustrated words

This week’s words
mimetic
gobbledygook
berserk
kindler
fairy-tale


This week’s comments
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Next week’s theme
Back-formations

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(FER-ee-tayl)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Referring to a situation where improbable events lead to a happy ending.
2. Relating to a story with fantastical, untrue, or idealized elements.

ETYMOLOGY:

From fairy, from Latin fata (the Fates), plural of fatum (fate) + tale, from Old English talu (story). Earliest documented use: 1904.

NOTES:

Fairy tales have long shaped our ideas of magic, destiny, and happy (or pre-Disney, sometimes gruesome or tragic) endings. Some of the fairy tale characters, in turn, have become words in the English language. Check out these words inspired from fairy tales: here and here.

Which of this week’s paintings is your favorite? Share below or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Curious about the inspiration and process behind the art? Head to Leah’s blog for an insider's perspective.

USAGE:

‘“It was the fairy-tale ending. I couldn’t have asked for anything better really,’ [Tyla] King said.”
Warren Jordan; Now’s the Time for the Dragons to Get Out of the NRLW Starting Blocks; Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, Australia); Aug 11, 2024.

“[The Tibetan films] showed neither a mystery-land of fairy-tale splendour, as the West believed, nor barbarous peasants, as the Han Chinese occupiers thought.”
The Long Take; The Economist (London, UK); May 20, 2023.

See more usage examples of fairy-tale in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: