fairy godmother

English

Illustration to Cinderella by Gustave Doré: the fairy godmother preparing an enchantment for her goddaughter.

Alternative forms

• faerie godmother

Noun

fairy godmother (plural fairy godmothers)

1. In certain fairy tales, a fictional benevolent woman with magical powers who uses them to help the cause of the protagonist.

   I thought it was clever the director cast the same woman to play both the Wicked Witch and Prince Charming's fairy godmother.

2. (by extension) Any generous benefactor.
   • 2007, Choderlos de Laclos, translated by Helen Constantine, Dangerous Liaisons, Penguin, page 195:

     How lucky you are to have me for a friend! I am a fairy godmother to you!

Related terms

• fairy godfather

Translations

benevolent magical female

• Catalan: fada protectora f
• Czech: dobrá víla
• Dutch: goede fee f
• Esperanto: feina baptopatrino
• Estonian: haldjast ristiema
• Finnish: hyvä haltiatar
• French: fée marraine f
• German: gute Fee f
• Hungarian: jó tündér
• Italian: fata madrina f
• Japanese: フェアリー・ゴッドマザー (fearī goddomazā)
• Kyrgyz: фея (ky) (feya)
• Polish: dobra wróżka f
• Portuguese: fada-madrinha f
• Russian: до́брая фе́я f (dóbraja féja), фе́я-крёстная f (féja-krjóstnaja)
• Spanish: hada madrina f
• Swedish: god fe
• Vietnamese: tiên đỡ đầu

generous benefactor

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 恩人 (zh) (ēnrén), 救星 (zh) (jiùxīng)

• Dutch: weldoenster (nl) f
• Finnish: hyvä haltiatar
• French: donateur (fr) m
• German: Wohltäter (de) m
• Hungarian: jótevő (hu)
• Italian: madrina (it) f, benefattore (it) m, benefattrice (it) f
• Japanese: 恩人 (ja) (onjin)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: benfeitor (pt) m, filantropo (pt) m
• Russian: покрови́тельница (ru) f (pokrovítelʹnica)
• Spanish: benefactor (es) m
• Swedish: välgörare (sv)
• Vietnamese: ân nhân (vi), cứu tinh (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} добра вила f (dobra vila) (dóbra víla)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} dobra vila f