elk

See also: Elk, -elk, and Ełk

English

Eurasian elk, or moose (Alces alces)

North American elk, or wapiti (Cervus canadensis)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛlk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlk

Etymology 1

From Middle English elk, from Old English eolc, eolh (“elk”), from Proto-Germanic *elhaz, *algiz (“elk”) (compare Low German Elk, German Elch, Danish elg, Norwegian elg, Swedish älg), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁élḱis, *h₁ólḱis (compare Polish łoś, Russian лось (losʹ), Vedic Sanskrit ऋश्य (ṛ́śya, “antelope”), variant of *h₁elh₁én (compare German Elen, Tocharian A yäl, Tocharian B ylem (“gazelle”), Lithuanian élnis (“stag”), Armenian եղնիկ (eġnik, “doe, hind”)), from *h₁el- (“deer”).

Noun

elk (plural elk or elks)

1. Any of various large species of deer such as the red deer, moose or wapiti (see usage notes).
   1. Any of the subspecies of the moose (Alces alces, alternatively named Eurasian elk to avoid confusion with the wapiti), that occurs only in Europe and Asia.
   2. (chiefly Europe, Commonwealth) Any moose (Alces alces), the largest member of the deer family.
   3. (Canada, US) common wapiti (Cervus canadensis), the second largest member of the deer family, once thought to be a subspecies of red deer.
   4. (British India) Sambar (Cervus unicolor).
      • 1813, James Forbes, Oriental Memoirs, page 281:

        In a narrow defile […] a male elk, (cervus alces, Lin.) of noble appearance, followed by twenty-two females, passed majestically under their platform, each as large as a common-sized horse.

Usage notes

Elk originally referred to the moose. The wapiti was named elk by European explorers in North America, who thought it resembled the moose.

The word elk is now commonly used in the same way as the word caribou is used for the subspecies of the reindeer. The only difference here is that it refers only to a single subspecies, while caribou refers to several subspecies of the reindeer.

Synonyms

• (Cervus canadensis): wapiti
• (Alces alces): moose

Derived terms

• Cape elk
• Elk County
• Elk Point
• Elk River
• elk test
• Elkton
• Irish elk
• Nelson's elk
• Roosevelt elk

 

Descendants

• → Korean: 엘크 (elkeu)

Translations

Alces alces — see moose

wapiti - Cervus canadensis — see wapiti

Etymology 2

Noun

elk (plural elks)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of elke (the common swan (Cygnus cygnus, syn. Cygnus ferus))

References

• elk at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Kel, Lek, lek

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch elk.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

elk

1. (rather rare, literary) everyone; everybody

Synonyms

• elkeen, almal
• ieder; iedereen

Determiner

elk

1. (in expressions only) Alternative form of elke (“every”)

   in elk geval — “in every (i.e. any) case”

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch elc. Compare English each, West Frisian elk, from Proto-Germanic *aiwô (“ever, always”) + *ga- + Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛlk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: elk
• Rhymes: -ɛlk

Determiner

elk

1. each; every

Usage notes

• The Dutch determiners elk and ieder are entirely interchangeable. They do not exhibit the slight distinction that is usually made between English each and every.

Inflection

Inflection of elk
uninflected	elk
inflected	elke
comparative	—
		positive
predicative/adverbial		elk
indefinite	m./f. sing.	elke
	n. sing.	elk
	plural	elke
definite		elke
partitive

Synonyms

• al (alle)
• ieder

Descendants

• Afrikaans: elk
• Negerhollands: elk

Pronoun

elk

1. (chiefly in expressions) everyone; everybody

   Melk is goed voor elk.

   Milk is good for everyone.

   Elk op zijn beurt.

   One at a time. (Literally: Everybody at their turn.)

Anagrams

• lek

Low German

Etymology

Compare Dutch elk, English each.

Pronoun

elk

1. (in the singular) each, every
2. (in the plural) some, many

Declension

Declension of elk

gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
nominative		elk	elk(e)	elk	elk(e)
oblique		elken	elk(e)	elk	elk(e)

See also

• jede
• männich
• veel
• enige
• elker
• Elkeener

Middle English

Alternative forms

• elke

Etymology

Apparently from Old English eolh, though it is not found before 1475 and the phonetic development is unexpected, though compare dialectal English fleck (“flea”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛlk/

Noun

elk

1. (Late Middle English, rare) elk, moose (Alces alces)

Descendants

• English: elk

References

• “elk, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.