adj
Meaning 1
Of or relating to elves.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
elfin
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ˈɛlfɪn/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛlfɪn
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CMU ARPABET: EH1 L F IH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Resembling an elf or elves, especially in tiny size or features.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
An elf; an inhabitant of fairy-land.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A little urchin or child.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
Any of the butterflies in the subgenus Incisalia of the North American lycaenid genus Callophrys.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
Meaning 6
relating to or made or done by or as if by an elf
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- elfin bells
- all the little creatures joined in the elfin dance
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 7
small and delicate
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- she was an elfin creature--graceful and delicate
- obsessed by things elfin and small
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: elflike
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 8
suggestive of an elf in strangeness and otherworldliness- John Mason Brown
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- thunderbolts quivered with elfin flares of heat lightning
- the fey quality was there, the ability to see the moon at midday
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: fey
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 9
usually good-naturedly mischievous
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- perpetrated a practical joke with elfin delight
- elvish tricks
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: elfish, elvish
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Partly from attributive use of Etymology 1, but reanalysed by Edmund Spenser as if equivalent to elf + -in. Compare elven (adjective), elvan.
From Middle English elven, from Old English elfen, ælfen (“nymph, spirit, fairy”), feminine of elf, ælf (“elf”), equivalent to elf + -in. Cognate with Middle High German elbinne (“a fairy, nymph”).
Real reading context