tooth fairy
22
3.8
- noun
- /tuːθ ˈfɛri/
- Baby Talk
:
Ratoncito Pérez
- When I lost my first tooth, I placed it under my pillow and eagerly awaited the tooth fairy to leave me a surprise.
- pillow for the tooth fairy
- believe in the tooth fairy
- tooth fairy leaves
And I think maybe Mayer's tooth fairy was called Petria.
- And I think maybe Mayer's tooth fairy was called Petria.
- And now he's never forgotten, you know, the tooth fairy since then.
- Now it's time to wait for the Tooth Fairy, which is definitely not me.
- You know, the tooth fairy is a gay man.
Examples
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I tell my kid to put their tooth under the pillow so that the tooth fairy leaves a gift.
Blog text (12) -
I actually, I still believed in the tooth fairy for longer than Santa.
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Now it's time to wait for the Tooth Fairy, which is definitely not me.
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Well, of course the tooth fairy will come.
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You believe in the tooth fairy, too?
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Did the tooth fairy come?
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My child does not ask me, "Daddy, is the tooth fairy real?"
Blog text (12) -
And the tooth fairy left you a buck under your pillow last night.
Blog text (13) -
Elliott, look, the tooth fairy came!
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"The tooth fairy will know too," she said, tears brimming.
Fiction book (2001)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally transparent: combining 'tooth' and 'fairy' signals a fairy associated with teeth, so a B1 learner who knows both words will infer it refers to a mythical creature linked to children's lost teeth. Cultural specifics (e.g. leaving money under the pillow) are extra pragmatic detail, but the core referent is clearly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
The name tooth fairy comes from the image of a small fairy who takes a child's lost tooth from under the pillow and leaves a coin or tiny gift. That's why the phrase means the story character who 'leaves money when a child loses a baby tooth'.