green fairy

English

Etymology

Calque of French fée verte.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

green fairy (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) Absinthe liquor.
   • 2010, Paul Owens, Paul Nathan, The Little Green Book of Absinthe‎^[1], Penguin, →ISBN:

     Absinthe ads like to trade on artists like Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec, as if the history of the green fairy began in the Pigalle neighborhood of 1870s Paris, but wormwood-infused drinks have been around for thousands of years.

2. (New Zealand, colloquial) A person who supplies medicinal cannabis products illegally.
   • 2020, James Borrowdale, Weed: A New Zealand Story‎^[2], Penguin Random House New Zealand, →ISBN:

     She used to buy the majority of her medicines from a local green fairy, but when they were busted, her supply line, like that of many other patients, was cut.

Translations

absinthe liquor — see also absinthe

• French: fée verte (fr)
• German: grüne Fee f
• Polish: zielona wróżka f