A fairy tale is a story, usually for children, that involves magical or fantastical elements like talking animals, enchanted objects, witches, giants, or fairies. Classic fairy tales include “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Jack and the Beanstalk.” These stories often follow a familiar pattern: a hero or heroine faces challenges or danger, uses courage or cleverness to overcome obstacles, and usually reaches a happy ending.

Many fairy tales started as folk stories told aloud for generations before anyone wrote them down. The Brothers Grimm collected and published hundreds of German fairy tales in the 1800s, while Hans Christian Andersen wrote original fairy tales like “The Little Mermaid” and “The Ugly Duckling.”

People also use fairy tale to describe something that seems too perfect or magical to be real. If someone lives in a beautiful castle and has a perfect life, you might say they live in a fairy tale. When a sports team comes from behind to win a championship in dramatic fashion, commentators call it a fairy tale ending.

The phrase can carry a warning too. If someone dismisses an idea as just a fairy tale, they mean it's unrealistic or make-believe, something that sounds nice but won't actually happen in the real world.