Etymology: < later Old French fei < earlier feit , feid : see faith n. and int. Feith , faith n. and int. was the original, and became the ordinary, English form: but fey, fay also passed into English from contemporary French a1300, and was for a time almost as common as the earlier form, especially in certain senses, and in phrases such as par fay, by my fay = Old French par fei, par ma fei.

Etymology: < Old French fae, faie (French fée ) = Provençal fada , Portuguese fada , Spanish hada , Italian fata < Common Romance fāta feminine singular, < Latin fāta the Fates, plural of fātum fate n.

Etymology: < fay v.²

Etymology: Shortened < ofay n. and adj.

Etymology: Old English fég-an = Old Saxon fôgian (Dutch voegen ), Old High German fuogen (Middle High German vüegen , modern German fügen ) < Old Germanic *fôgjan to fit, adapt, join (compare Old Frisian fôgia , which differs in conjugation), < *fôg- (compare Old High German fuoga , modern German fuge fitting together, joining), ablaut-form of Germanic root fag- in fag-ro- fair adj.

Etymology: < Old Norse fǽgja to cleanse, polish < Old Germanic type *fæ̂gjan . Old Norse had also a synonymous parallel derivative from same root, fága (= Middle Dutch vâgen < Old Germanic type *fæ̂gôjan ) whence the English fow v. The Old Norse words appear to be related by ablaut to Dutch vegen, Middle High German vegen, modern German fegen, to polish, clean, sweep. In South Yorkshire it rhymes with weigh/wɛɪ/, not with day, way, say /deː//weː//seː/; perhaps the best spelling is feigh.

Etymology: Only in southern Middle English; a Scandinavian origin is therefore unlikely, so that the word can hardly be identified with fay v.²; the sense also differs. Perhaps representing Old English fǽgan (‘fæhit pingit’ Epinal Gloss.; compare afǽgan to depict), < fáh coloured, faw n.