alfil

English

Alternative forms

• fil, pil

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish alfil (“chess bishop”).

Noun

alfil (plural alfils)

1. (chess) A fairy chess piece that moves two squares diagonally, leaping over any intermediary pieces.

Anagrams

• Filla, flail

Asturian

Noun

alfil m (plural alfiles)

1. (chess) bishop

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [əlˈfil]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [alˈfil]

Noun

alfil m (plural alfils)

1. (chess) bishop

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فِيل (fīl, “elephant”) via Andalusian Arabic, from Classical Persian پیل (pīl).

Noun

alfil m (plural alfís)

1. (chess) bishop

Spanish

El alfil solo puede moverse en diagonal. ― The bishop can only move diagonally.

Alternative forms

• arfil (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic الْفِيل (al-fīl, “the elephant”) via Andalusian Arabic, from Classical Persian پیل (pīl).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˈfil/ [alˈfil]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -il
• Syllabification: al‧fil

Noun

alfil m (plural alfiles)

1. (chess) bishop
   • 1283, Alfonso X the Wise, “Libro del acedrex [Book of Chess]”, in Libro de los juegos [Book of Games], folio 4v:

     Los alffiles an a ſeer fechos a manera de eleffantes ⁊ castiellos en cima dellos llenos de omnes armados como ſi quiſieſſen lidiar.

     Bishops have to be made as of elephants and castles, on top of which full of of armed men, as if they wanted to fight.

   • 1858, Gerónimo Borao, “De los alfiles [Of the Bishops]” (chapter 5), in El ajedrez: tratado de sus principios fundamentales [Chess: Treaty of its fundamental principles], Zaragoza: Vicente Andrés, page 44:

     Los alfiles toman nombre del color en donde al principio se asientan, color que conservan hasta el fin […].

     Bishops claim the name of whichever color they land in first, color which is kept until the end.

2. (figurative) close ally
   • 2024 December 30, “Javier Milei prorrogó el presupuesto de 2023 por decreto”, in Diario Río Negro‎^[1]:

     Por su parte, un importante alfil libertario afirmó: “Si acceden a votar el Presupuesto que mandamos, tranquilamente podría tratarse en febrero. Dependerá de los gobernadores”.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• alfil bueno
• alfil malo

Related terms

• marfil

Descendants

• → English: alfil

Further reading

• “alfil”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10