Wordwyrt

fair

/ˈfeə/FER
/ˈfɛɹ/FER

Meaningpleasing

Common meaning: pleasing to look at

Other meanings: just

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Journey through time

  1. Old Englishfæger‘fair’sourceB&T
  2. Middle Englishfairsource
  3. Englishfair‘pleasing to look at’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Pronunciation note: the UK form is converted from the US form by rule and is unchecked. This is separate from the origin confidence below.

Origin confidence: High

How sure we are of this word’s origin, worked out from the sources on this page. It is not a guarantee.

  • Skeat (1898) entry confirmed, scan linked
  • Every root links to a dictionary scan
  • All 2 history stages have a source link
  • 2 distinct public-domain books cited

High: Skeat (1898) has an entry for this word and every root and history stage is linked to a source. Medium: something is missing or indirect, such as the entry being under a related word. Low: not in Skeat and only one book, or a root without a scan.

Origin: Built on Old English fæger ‘fair’.

Source words

  • fæger Old English · source word “fair”

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