A small gift, trinket, or novelty item traditionally purchased at or given from a fair or market.
From 'fair' (a periodic market) plus the diminutive suffix '-ling' (from Old English '-ling,' meaning 'small one'), literally 'a small thing from a fair,' similar to how 'duckling' means 'small duck.'
Fairlings were so common as souvenirs from medieval fairs that the word survived for centuries—today we'd call them 'fair merchandise' or 'souvenirs,' but fairlings had a charming specificity that captured the excitement of getting a little gift from the fair.
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