elfin

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛlfɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlfɪn

Etymology 1

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”).

Noun

elfin (plural elfins)

1. An elf; an inhabitant of fairy-land.
2. A little urchin or child.
3. Any of the butterflies in the subgenus Incisalia of the North American lycaenid genus Callophrys.

Etymology 2

Partly from attributive use of Etymology 1, but reanalysed by Spenser as if equivalent to elf +‎ -in. Compare elven (adj), elvan.

Adjective

elfin (comparative more elfin, superlative most elfin)

1. Relating to or resembling an elf or elves, especially in tiny size or features.
   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), pages 377–378:

     Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.

   • 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:

     He’s forced to travel back to 1969 to prevent an evil alien (a shockingly effective, nearly unrecognizable Jemaine Clement of Flight Of The Conchords, playing sort of a psychotic extraterrestrial-biker serial killer) from destroying the world by killing Brolin. Smith is aided in his quest by an elfin, time-jumping alien with psychic powers played by another Coen brothers veteran, A Serious Man star Michael Stuhlbarg.

   • 2022 September 22, HarryBlank, “Mind Over Matter”, in SCP Foundation‎^[1], archived from the original on 23 May 2024:

     Nhung Ngo had the shortest legs at Site-43. She was the shortest member of staff, two inches beneath the positively elfin Delfina Ibanez, and yet Lillian found her inexplicably difficult to shake.

Synonyms

• see list in elven

Derived terms

• elfin saddle
• elfin safety
• elfin wood
• Williams elfin facies syndrome

 

Translations

elven — see elven

Anagrams

• lifen, nifle

Dutch

Alternative forms

• elvin

Etymology

From elf +‎ -in.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛlˈfɪn/
• Hyphenation: el‧fin
• Rhymes: -ɪn

Noun

elfin f (plural elfinnen, diminutive elfinnetje n, masculine elf)

1. a female elf (fantasy humanoid)