elfin
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English elven, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English elfen, ælfen (“nymph, spirit, fairy”), feminine of elf, ælf (“elf”), equivalent to elf + -en. Cognate with Middle High German elbinne (“a fairy, nymph”).
Noun
elfin (plural elfins)
- An elf; an inhabitant of fairy-land.
- A little urchin or child.
- Any of the butterflies in the subgenus Incisalia of the North American lycaenid genus Callophrys.
Etymology 2
Partly from attributive use of Etymology 1, but reanalysed by Spenser as if equivalent to elf + -en. Compare elven (adj), elvan.
Adjective
elfin (comparative more elfin, superlative most elfin)
- Relating to or resembling an elf or elves, especially in its tiny size or features.
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC:
- Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
- 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:
- He’s forced to travel back to 1969 to prevent an evil alien (a shockingly effective, nearly unrecognizable Jemaine Clement of Flight Of The Conchords, playing sort of a psychotic extraterrestrial-biker serial killer) from destroying the world by killing Brolin. Smith is aided in his quest by an elfin, time-jumping alien with psychic powers played by another Coen brothers veteran, A Serious Man star Michael Stuhlbarg.
Translations
elven — see elven
Synonyms
- see list in elven
Anagrams
Dutch
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
elfin f (plural elfinnen, diminutive elfinnetje n, masculine elf)
Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛlfɪn
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms suffixed with -en
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- en:Gossamer-winged butterflies
- Dutch terms suffixed with -in
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɪn
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch feminine nouns