Etymology

fairy tale

Today it means: A folktale or literary story featuring fairies or similar fantasy characters. Full definition →

French conte de fées
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The story

  1. French · calque ofconte de fées
  2. English todayfairy tale

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.