fae

Fae is a Scottish preposition that means “from.”

English is spoken differently in different places, and the Scottish dialect (called Scots) comes with some of its own words.

Example: Mary asked James, “Whaur are ye fae?” meaning “Where are you from?”

Fae is pronounced like fay, rhyming with pay or may. The first records of its use come from the 1700s from the poetry of Alexander Ross, but it certainly may have been used in speech before that. It may be a shortening of the older Scottish preposition frae, which may be related to the preposition fro (as in to and fro), which comes from the Old English word fram, meaning “from.”

Fae can be used in most of the same ways that from is used, which is quite a lot. Still, use of fae is typically limited to speakers from Scotland and surrounding areas. Fae is sometimes also used as another word for faeries (or fairies), the mythical pixie creatures fae folklore.

What are some synonyms for fae?

• from

What are some words that share a root or word element with fae? 

• fro

What are some words that often get used in discussing fae?

• Scots
• Scottish
• preposition
• dialect

If you’re traveling in Scotland or reading old Scottish poetry, watch out for fae. If you’re traveling in a mystical fairyland, watch out for the other kind of fae.

Nite fae wee Steve! pic.twitter.com/Vg2hts84oG

— Oor Red Raiph 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇮🇩🇪 (@raiphsays) February 6, 2020

Whit part of Ireland are you fae? Leith! pic.twitter.com/x0qwrxozU3

— Sean (@Sean67_) February 6, 2020

Is fae used correctly in the following sentence?

I am originally fae Scotland but grew up in London.