Faerie or fairy?
faerie is a noun meaning “Realm of the fays, fairyland”; fairy is a noun meaning “A mythical being of human form with magical powers, known in many sizes and…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) fairy is about 23 times as common as faerie.
What is the difference between faerie and fairy?
| faerie | fairy | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun, adjective |
| Meaning | Realm of the fays, fairyland | A mythical being of human form with magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although typically depicted as a small sprite with gauze-like wings… colloquialAn attractive young woman; a small, graceful woman Like a fairy; fanciful, whimsical, delicate |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | faeries faëries | fairies |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈfɛəɹi/ /ˈfeːɹiː/ /ˈfeːɹi/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | 12 times per million words |
Sources: faerie and fairy in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of faerie and fairy
faerie
- 1
Realm of the fays, fairyland
- 2
Alternative spelling of faerie
fairy
- 1
A mythical being of human form with magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although typically depicted as a small sprite with gauze-like wings, especially one that is female. Fairies…
- 2
Like a fairy; fanciful, whimsical, delicate
- 3
derogatoryslangA male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate
- 4
derogatoryslangAn effeminate man or boy
- 5
colloquialAn attractive young woman; a small, graceful woman
- 6
An enchantress, or creature of overpowering charm
- 7
A member of two species of hummingbird in the genus Heliothryx
- 8
A legendary Chinese immortal
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, faerie or fairy?
faerie appears about once in every 2 million words; fairy 12 times per million words.
faerie about once in every 2 million wordsfairy 12 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search faerie vs fairy?
“faerie vs fairy” is searched about 2,400 times a month on Google and 40 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“fairy vs faerie”, “faerie or fairy”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.