sylph
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Long-tailed_Sylph_%2824441359886%29.jpg/220px-Long-tailed_Sylph_%2824441359886%29.jpg)
Etymology
First attested in 1657. From New Latin sylphes, coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”), or otherwise Ancient Greek σίλφη (sílphē, “beetle”), which is probably a Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 2 should be a valid language, etymology language or family code; the value "pregrc" is not valid. See WT:LOL, WT:LOL/E and WT:LOF. word.
More at Wikipedia.
Pronunciation
Noun
sylph (plural sylphs)
- (mythology) An invisible being of the air.
- Synonym: sylphid
- The elemental being of air, usually female.
- (by extension) A slender woman or girl, usually graceful and sometimes with the implication of sublime station over everyday people.
- 1811, Mary Bruton, Self-Control (novel):
- Her heart fluttered with expectation—her step was buoyant with hope, and she sprung into the carriage with the lightness of a sylph.
- 1811, Mary Bruton, Self-Control (novel):
- (ornithology) Any of the mainly dark green and blue hummingbirds (genus Aglaiocercus), the male of which has a long forked tail.
Translations
The elemental being of air
A slender girl
Further reading
References
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
Categories:
- English terms derived from New Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- Rhymes:English/ɪlf
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Mythology
- English terms with quotations
- en:Ornithology
- en:Hummingbirds
- en:Mythological creatures