English Explanatory Dictionary

elf

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A supernatural being or spirit associated with illness, mischief, and harmful or dangerous magical influence; in later Norse sources, sometimes divided into benevolent light elves (inhabiting Álfheimr) and malevolent dark elves.
  2. A small, magical creature similar to a fairy, often mischievous, playful, or occasionally helpful.
  3. A member of a race of tall, slender, graceful beings with pointed ears, typically immortal or very long-lived and possessing wisdom and magical abilities.
  4. Ellipsis of Christmas elf.
  5. A very diminutive person; a dwarf.
  6. Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).
verb
  1. To twist into elflocks (of hair); to mat.
noun
  1. Acronym of Executable and Linking Format, a common object file format for Unix.
  2. Initialism of extremely low frequency.
  3. Acronym of English as a lingua franca (“English used by non-native speakers”).
name
  1. Initialism of Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmentalism group.
  2. Initialism of Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, an organization that studies the invented languages of J. R. R. Tolkien.
  3. Initialism of Endangered Language Fund, a non-profit organization.

Pronunciation

ĕlf /ɛlf/ En-us-elf.ogg

Word forms

elf elves elfs elve elfing elfed

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *albʰósder. Proto-Germanic *albiz Proto-West Germanic *albi Old English ielf Middle English elf English elf From Middle English elf, from Old English ielf, ælf, from Proto-West Germanic *albi, from Proto-Germanic *albiz. Ultimately probably derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós (“white”). Doublet of alf, awf, and oaf. The modern fantasy literature sense was popularised by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Synonyms

goblin fairy

Related words

elfin elven elvan elvish dark elf & light elf fairy brownie dwarf hobbit Eldar LW MW RF SW

Derived words

Christmas elf dark elf dwelf elf and safety elf arrow elf barrow elf-bolt elf-cap moss elf-child elf circle elf-craft elf-cup elf-damsel elf-dance elfdock elf-dock elfdom Elfenland elfess elfette elf-folk elf-girl elf hill elfhood elf howe elfin wood elfish elfishly elfishness elfism elfist elfkin elfkind elf king elf-knight elf-lady Elfland elfless elf-light elflike elfling elflock elflore elfmaid elf-maid elf-maiden elf-man elfness elfology elf owl elfpunk elf queen elfship elf-shot elfwife elfwise elfwoman elfwort half-elf light elf

Translations

Afrikaans: elf Chinese Mandarin: 精靈 /精灵 Czech: elf Finnish: haltia French: elfe Galician: ouva Hungarian: elf Hungarian: tünde Italian: elfo Latin: alfus Marathi: एल्फ Portuguese: elfo Russian: эльф Scottish Gaelic: ailbhear Scottish Gaelic: ealf Sicilian: erfu Spanish: elfo Swedish: alv
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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