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fairy tale

/ˈfɛɹi ˌteɪl/noun

fairy tale is a noun meaning “A folktale or literary story featuring fairies or similar fantasy characters” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-A-I-R-Y-T-A-L-E. The plural of fairy tale is fairy tales or fairy-tales.

What does fairy tale mean?

noun

  1. 1

    A folktale or literary story featuring fairies or similar fantasy characters.

    I used to love reading fairy tales when I was a child.

  2. 2

    The literary genre of these stories.

  3. 3

    A fabricated or misleading account meant to deceive, such as an exaggerated excuse.

    He's telling us another fairy tale about how great the software will be.

  4. 4

    A delightful and ideal situation of a kind attained by very few.

    I've been living in a fairy tale since I met Joe.

adjective

as fairy-tale
  1. 1

    Of the nature of a fairy tale; as if from a fairy tale.

    a fairy-tale romance

noun

as fairy-tale
  1. 1

    datedDated form of fairy tale.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce fairy tale?

  • US /ˈfɛɹi ˌteɪl/
  • UK /ˈfeəɹi ˌteɪl/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-fairy_tale.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of fairy tale

  • fairy tales plural
  • fairy-tale
  • fairytale
  • faerie tale
  • fairy-tales plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Words people confuse with fairy tale

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

fairy-tale vs fairytale70 G

Also written: fairytale (one word or two).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Fairy tale in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchconte de fées, conte de fée (folktale)
GermanMärchen, Fabel (folktale), märchenhaft (of the nature of a fairy tale; as if from a…)
Portugueseconto de fadas (folktale)
Spanishcuento de hadas, relato de fadas (folktale), fantasía (unrealistic story)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does fairy tale come from?

Calque of French conte de fées, coined by French writer Madame d'Aulnoy in the late 17th century.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).