fey
/feɪ/adjective, noun
fey is spelled F-E-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “fay vs fey” about 30 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, fey means “Possessing second sight, clairvoyance, or clairaudience” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in fey?
| Letters | 3: F-E-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,649th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is fey?
Fey appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce fey?
- /feɪ/
Fey has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-fey.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with fey
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: fay (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: pe.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with fey?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as fey.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: fye.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of fey
- feyer comparative
- more fey comparative
- feyest superlative
- most fey superlative
- feys plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- feying participle, present
- feyed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fey mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
archaicAbout to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.
- 2
obsoleteDying; dead.
- 3
IrelandScotlandPossessing second sight, clairvoyance, or clairaudience.
- 4
Overrefined, affected.
- 5
Strange or otherworldly.
- 6
Spellbound.
- 7
Magical or fairylike.
noun
- 1
A fairy.
- 2
Fairy folk collectively.
- 3
Alternative form of pe (“Semitic letter”).
verb
- 1
UKobsoleteTo cleanse.
to fey a drain or ditch
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fey in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | destinado a morir , etéreo, extraño , embelesado , mágico |
| French | détaché du monde , envoûté, ensorcelé , magique, féérique |
| Portuguese | fádico |
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 fey come from?
From Middle English feye (“fated to die”), from Old English fǣġe (“doomed to die, timid”), from Proto-West Germanic *faigī, from Proto-Germanic *faigijaz (“cowardly, wicked”), from Proto-Indo-European *peyk- (“ill-meaning, bad”). Akin to Old Saxon fēgi, whence Dutch veeg (“doomed, near death”), Old High German feigi (“appointed for death, ungodly”) whence German feige (“cowardly”), Old Norse feigr (“doomed”) whence the Icelandic feigur (“doomed to die”), Old English fāh (“outlawed, hostile”). More at foe.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).