sprookje

Can be regarded as the diminutive of sproke, a learned borrowing from the Middle Dutch word that also yielded the inherited form spreuk. This diminutive has, however, taken on a life of its own with the current meaning of "fairy tale". Sprookje is attested since the seventeenth century, however, whereas sproke as a learned borrowing likely postdates that, so the exact chronology is muddled. Compare German Low German Spröökje.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsproːk.jə/

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• Hyphenation: sprook‧je
• Rhymes: -oːkjə

sprookje n (plural sprookjes)

1. fairy tale
   1. a usually old, allegorical short story
   2. story presented as true that is not believable
2. (figuratively) dream come true (very desirable life)

   Sinds mijn huwelijk is mijn leven een sprookje.

   Since my marriage my life has been a dream come true.

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “spreuk”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute