Word: fair Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From Middle English fayr, from Old English fæġer (“beautiful”), from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (“appropriate, fitting, nice, suitable”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to attach, join; agreement, settlement”). Cognates Cognate with Old High German and Old Saxon fagar (“beautiful, fair”), Danish fager, favr (“fair, pretty, wonderful”), Faroese and Icelandic fagur (“beautiful, fair”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fager (“fair, pretty”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌲𐍂𐍃 (fagrs, “fair, proper”), Estonian vapper (“brave, courageous”), Finnish vauras (“substantial, wealthy”); also Latin pāx (“peace; ease, quiet, rest”), Umbrian pase (“peace”), Belarusian пе́кны (pjékny, “beautiful”), Czech pěkný (“nice; pretty”), Polish piekny, piękny (“beautiful; admirable, praiseworthy”), Slovak pekný (“nice; pretty”), Sanskrit पाश॑ (pā́śa, “bond, cord, noose; nature, outer world; border, edge, selvage”). See also peace. Pronunciation: /ˈfɛə/, [ˈfɛə̯], [ˈfɛː], /ˈfɛː/, /ˈfeː/ 1. Beautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality. Labels: archaic, literary Example: Monday's child is fair of face. Example: There was once a knight who wooed a fair young maid. 2. Unblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent. Example: one's fair name Example: After scratching out and replacing various words in the manuscript, he scribed a fair copy to send to the publisher. 3. Light in color, pale, particularly with regard to skin tone but also referring to blond and red hair. Example: She had fair hair and blue eyes. Example: the northern people large and fair-complexioned 4. Just. Example: He must be given a fair trial. Example: “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.” 5. Adequate, reasonable, or decent, but not excellent. Example: Their performance has been only fair. Example: The patient was in a fair condition after some treatment. 6. Favorable to a ship's course. Example: I shipped with them and becoming friends, we set forth on our venture, in health and safety; and sailed with a fair wind, till we came to a city called Madínat-al-Sín; […] 7. Favorable, pleasant. Example: The weather was fair today. 8. Favorable, pleasant. Example: a fair sky Example: They had good weather and tolerably fair winds, and before they entered the Straits of Magellan the captain had formulated a plan for the disposition of Garta. 9. Favorable, pleasant. Example: a fair mark; in fair sight; a fair view Example: The caliphs obtained a mighty empire, which was in a fair way to have enlarged. 10. Without sudden change of direction or curvature; smooth; flowing; said of the figure of a vessel, and of surfaces, water lines, and other lines. 11. Between the baselines. 12. Taken direct from an opponent's foot, without the ball touching the ground or another player. 13. Not a no ball. 14. Of a coin or die, having equal chance of landing on any side, unbiased. Example: A fair coin has a 50% chance of landing on heads.