pixie
n. countablen. a small, magical person with pointed ears who likes to play tricks. They are common in old stories from England.
n. a supernatural being from folklore, typically depicted as a small, mischievous humanoid with pointed ears. Often associated with the mythology of South West England.
The children believed a pixie lived in the garden.
In many local legends, a traveler who gets lost in the woods is said to have been led astray by a pixie.
The author draws heavily on Cornish folklore, populating the ancient moorlands with pixies that are more capricious and dangerous than the cute versions found in modern children's books.
Uncertain; 17thC, originally in the folklore of southwest England; perhaps diminutive of Swedish pysk (“fairy”); perhaps Puck + -sy; see Wikipedia.
The plural form is usually 'pixies'.