Etymograph

English

fey

Fey comes from Middle English feye ‘fated to die’, from Proto-Germanic *faigijaz ‘cowardly, wicked’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peyk- ‘ill-meaning, bad’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peyk-1‘ill-meaning, bad’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*faigijaz1‘cowardly, wicked’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*faigī1‘fey, doomed to die’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fǣġe1‘doomed to die, timid’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feye1‘fated to die’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1907fey1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English fey
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1907, Barbara Baynton, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton): “Gratefully she crooned with them, so inimitably that old…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peyk-Wiktionary, English fey‘ill-meaning, bad’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*faigijazWiktionary, English fey‘cowardly, wicked’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*faigīWiktionary, English fey‘fey, doomed to die’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fǣġeWiktionary, English fey‘doomed to die, timid’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feyeWiktionary, English fey‘fated to die’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1907feyWiktionary, English fey. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1907, Barbara Baynton, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton): “Gratefully she crooned with them, so inimitably that old…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *peyk-

Another origin of fey

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500fāda‘fāta’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400fae
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600feie
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500faie‘a place or person possessed with magical properties’
  5. Englishtodayfey

Today it means

adj About to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fey”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *peyk- / fey

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