elf

See also: Elf and ELF

Contents

EnglishEdit

An elf drawn by Piedachu Peris

Alternative formsEdit

• elve (obsolete)

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English elf, elfe, from Old English ælf (“incubus, elf”), from Proto-Germanic *albiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós (“white”).

PronunciationEdit

• enPR: ĕlf, IPA^(key): /ɛlf/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlf

NounEdit

elf (plural elves)

1. (Norse mythology) A luminous spirit presiding over nature and fertility and dwelling in the world of Álfheim (Elfland). Compare angel, nymph, fairy.
   • Shakespeare

     Every elf, and fairy sprite, / Hop as light as bird from brier.

2. Any from a race of mythical, supernatural beings resembling but seen as distinct from human beings. They are usually delicate-featured and skilled in magic or spellcrafting; sometimes depicted as clashing with dwarves, especially in modern fantasy literature.
3. (fantasy) Any of the magical, typically forest-guarding races bearing some similarities to the Norse álfar (through Tolkien's Eldar).
4. A very diminutive person; a dwarf.

SynonymsEdit

• (supernatural creature): See goblin (hostile); fairy (small, mischievous)

HyponymsEdit

• elfe
• elven
• wood elf, wood-elf

Derived termsEdit

Terms derived from elf

• dark elf
• elfin
• elfinwood
• elfish

• Elfland
• elflike
• elflock
• elven

• elvish
• light elf
• wood elf, wood-elf

TranslationsEdit

Norse mythology: luminous spirit dwelling in Álfheim

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: valohaltia
• French: elfe (fr) m
• Galician: elfo m

• Italian: elfo (it) m
• Latin: alfus m
• Portuguese: elfo (pt) m
• Spanish: elfo m
• Swedish: alv (sv) m, älva (sv) f, alf (sv)

mythical, supernatural being

• Arabic: آلْف‎‎ (ar) m (ʾālf)
• Bavarian: Åip
• Bulgarian: елф (bg) m (elf)
• Catalan: elf (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精靈 (zh), 精灵 (zh) (jīnglíng)

• Czech: elf (cs) m
• Danish: alf (da) c
• Dutch: elf (nl), alf (nl)
• Esperanto: elfo (eo)
• Estonian: haldjas (et)
• Finnish: haltia (fi), tonttu (fi), keiju (fi), peikko (fi), maahinen (fi)
• French: elfe (fr) m, lutin (fr) m, farfadet (fr) m
• Galician: ouva f
• Georgian: ელფი (elpi)
• German: Elfe (de) m, Elf (de) m, Elb (de) m, Elbe (de) m, Alb (de) m, Alp (de) m; (female) Elbin (de) f, Elfe (de) f, Elfin f

  Middle High German: elbe, alb, alp

• Greek: ξωτικό (el) n (xotikó)
• Hebrew: אלף‎‎ (he) m (elff)
• Hindi: देव (hi) m (dev), अप्सरा (hi) (apsarā)
• Hungarian: manó (hu), elf (hu), tündér (hu), tünde (hu)
• Icelandic: álfur (is) m
• Irish: lucharachán (ga), ealbh m
• Italian: elfo (it) m
• Japanese: 妖精 (ja) (ようせい, yōsei), エルフ (erufu)
• Korean: 엘프 (ko) (elpeu), 요정 (ko) (yojeong)

• Latin: alfus m
• Latvian: elfs m, elfa f
• Lithuanian: elfas m, elfė f
• Macedonian: ви́леник m (vílenik), џу́џе n (džúdže), елф m (elf)
• Maltese: nanu, elf
• Marathi: एल्फ m (elfa)
• Norwegian: alv (no) m
• Old English: ælf
• Old High German: alp
• Old Norse: álfr
• Old Saxon: alf
• Persian: الف‎‎ (fa) (elf), وروجک‎‎ (fa) (vorujak)
• Polish: elf (pl) m
• Portuguese: elfo (pt) m
• Romanian: elf (ro)
• Russian: эльф (ru) m (elʹf), альв m (alʹv)
• Scots: eemock
• Scottish Gaelic: sìthiche m, luspardan m, tàcharan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: патуљак, вилељак

  Roman: patuljak (sh), vilenjak (sh)

• Slovak: škriatok m
• Spanish: elfo m, duende (es) m
• Swahili: kibwengo
• Turkish: elf (tr)
• Ukrainian: ельф m (elʹf), альв m (alʹv)

fantasy: magical, typically forest-guarding creature

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: peikko (fi)
• French: elfe (fr) m
• Galician: ouva f
• Hungarian: elf (hu), tünde (hu)

• Italian: elfo (it) m
• Latin: alfus m
• Portuguese: elfo (pt) m
• Spanish: elfo m
• Swedish: alv (sv) c

very diminutive person — see dwarf

VerbEdit

elf (third-person singular simple present elfs, present participle elfing, simple past and past participle elfed)

1. (now rare) To twist into elflocks (of hair); to mat.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear

     My face I'll grime with filth, blanket my loins, elf all my hairs in knots, and with presented nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky.

See alsoEdit

• dark elf & light elf
• fairy
• brownie
• dwarf
• hobbit

ReferencesEdit

• Marshall Jones Company (1930). Mythology of All Races Series, Volume 2 Eddic, Great Britain: Marshall Jones Company, 1930, pp. 220-221.

AnagramsEdit

• EFL

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AfrikaansEdit

Afrikaans cardinal numbers

<  10	11	12  >
Cardinal : elf     Ordinal : elfde

EtymologyEdit

From Dutch elf, from Middle Dutch ellef, elf, from Old Dutch *ellef, from Proto-Germanic *ainalif.

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ɛlf/

NumeralEdit

elf

1. (cardinal) eleven

---

CatalanEdit

NounEdit

elf m (plural elfs)

1. elf

---

CzechEdit

NounEdit

elf m

1. elf

DeclensionEdit

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	elf	elfové
genitive	elfa	elfů
dative	elfu, elfovi	elfům
accusative	elfa	elfy
vocative	elfe	elfové
locative	elfu, elfovi	elfech
instrumental	elfem	elfy

---

DutchEdit

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ɛl(ə)f/

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle Dutch ellef, elf, from Old Dutch *ellef, from Proto-Germanic *ainalif, a compound of *ainaz and *-lif. Compare German elf, West Frisian alve, English eleven, Danish elleve.

NumeralEdit

Dutch cardinal numbers

<  10	11	12  >
Cardinal : elf     Ordinal : elfde

elf

1. (cardinal) eleven

NounEdit

elf f (plural elven, diminutive elfje n)

1. The number eleven, or a representation thereof.

DescendantsEdit

• Afrikaans: elf

Etymology 2Edit

Borrowed from German Elf, itself borrowed from English elf, from Old English ælf, from Proto-Germanic *albiz. Displaced native alf, from the same Germanic source.

NounEdit

elf m (plural elfen, diminutive elfje n, feminine elve)

1. elf (mythical creature)
2. brownie

SynonymsEdit

• (mythical being): alf

AnagramsEdit

• fel
• lef

---

Dutch Low SaxonEdit

EtymologyEdit

Ultimately cognate to German elf.

NumeralEdit

elf

1. eleven (11)

---

GermanEdit

German cardinal numbers

<  10	11	12  >
Cardinal : elf     Ordinal : elfte

Alternative formsEdit

• eilf, eilff, eylff (dated/obsolete)

EtymologyEdit

From Old High German einlif, from Proto-Germanic *ainalif, a compound of *ainaz and *-lif. Compare Dutch elf, West Frisian alve, English eleven, Danish elleve.

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ʔɛlf/

• audio

  (file)

NumeralEdit

elf

1. (cardinal) eleven

Coordinate termsEdit

Cardinal numbers from 0 to 99

	—0	—1	—2	—3	—4	—5	—6	—7	—8	—9
0—	null	eins	zwei	drei	vier	fünf	sechs	sieben	acht	neun
1—	zehn	elf	zwölf	dreizehn	vierzehn	fünfzehn (fuffzehn)	sechzehn	siebzehn (siebenzehn)	achtzehn	neunzehn
2—	zwanzig	einundzwanzig	zweiundzwanzig	dreiundzwanzig	vierundzwanzig	fünfundzwanzig	sechsundzwanzig	siebenundzwanzig	achtundzwanzig	neunundzwanzig
3—	dreißig	einunddreißig	zweiunddreißig	dreiunddreißig	vierunddreißig	fünfunddreißig	sechsunddreißig	siebenunddreißig	achtunddreißig	neununddreißig
4—	vierzig	einundvierzig	zweiundvierzig	dreiundvierzig	vierundvierzig	fünfundvierzig	sechsundvierzig	siebenundvierzig	achtundvierzig	neunundvierzig
5—	fünfzig (fuffzig)	einundfünfzig	zweiundfünfzig	dreiundfünfzig	vierundfünfzig	fünfundfünfzig	sechsundfünfzig	siebenundfünfzig	achtundfünfzig	neunundfünfzig
6—	sechzig	einundsechzig	zweiundsechzig	dreiundsechzig	vierundsechzig	fünfundsechzig	sechsundsechzig	siebenundsechzig	achtundsechzig	neunundsechzig
7—	siebzig (siebenzig)	einundsiebzig	zweiundsiebzig	dreiundsiebzig	vierundsiebzig	fünfundsiebzig	sechsundsiebzig	siebenundsiebzig	achtundsiebzig	neunundsiebzig
8—	achtzig	einundachtzig	zweiundachtzig	dreiundachtzig	vierundachtzig	fünfundachtzig	sechsundachtzig	siebenundachtzig	achtundachtzig	neunundachtzig
9—	neunzig	einundneunzig	zweiundneunzig	dreiundneunzig	vierundneunzig	fünfundneunzig	sechsundneunzig	siebenundneunzig	achtundneunzig	neunundneunzig

Cardinal numbers from 100 onward

• 100: hundert, einhundert
• 10³: tausend, eintausend
• 10⁴: zehntausend (Myriade)
• 10⁶: Million (tausendmaltausend, tausendtausend)
• 10⁹: Milliarde
• 10¹²: Billion
• 10¹⁵: Billiarde
• 10¹⁸: Trillion
• 10²¹: Trilliarde
• 10²⁴: Quadrillion
• 10²⁷: Quadrilliarde
• 10³⁰: Quintillion
• 10³³: Quintilliarde
• 10³⁶: Sextillion
• 10³⁹: Sextilliarde
• 10⁴²: Septillion
• 10⁴⁵: Septilliarde
• 10⁴⁸: Oktillion
• 10⁵¹: Oktilliarde
• 10⁵⁴: Nonillion
• 10⁵⁷: Nonilliarde
• 10⁶⁰: Dezillion
• 10⁶³: Dezilliarde
• 10⁶⁶: Undezillion
• 10⁷²: Duodezillion

…

• 10⁸⁴: Quattuordezillion

…

• 10¹⁰⁰: Googol

…

• 10¹²⁰: Vigintillion
• 10¹²³: Vigintilliarde

…

Derived termsEdit

• Elf
• elffach
• Elfeck
• elfeckig
• elfstellig
• elfstündig

Further readingEdit

• elf in Duden online

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German Low GermanEdit

Alternative formsEdit

• eleve, ölve, ölven

EtymologyEdit

From Middle Low German elvene, from Old Saxon ellevan.

NumeralEdit

elf

1. eleven

---

MalteseEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Arabic أَلْف‎ (ʾalf).

NumeralEdit

elf m, f (pl elef)

1. thousand

Related termsEdit

• elfejn

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Middle EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

• elfe, helfe

EtymologyEdit

From Old English elf, Anglian form of ælf, from Proto-Germanic *albiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós (“white”).

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ɛlf/

NounEdit

elf (plural elves)

1. elf, fairy
2. spirit, shade

Related termsEdit

• elven
• elvyssh

DescendantsEdit

• English: elf
• Scots: elf

ReferencesEdit

• “elf (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-12.

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Pennsylvania GermanEdit

EtymologyEdit

Compare German elf, Dutch elf, English eleven.

NumeralEdit

elf

1. (cardinal) eleven

---

PolishEdit

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ɛlf/

• Audio

  (file)

NounEdit

elf m anim (plural elfy)

1. elf, mythical or fantasy creature

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Usage notesEdit

The plural for the Tolkien creatures is usually elfowie.