elk
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English elk, from Old English eolc, eolh (“elk”), from Proto-Germanic *elhaz, *algiz (“elk”) (compare Low German Elk, German Elch, Danish elg, Norwegian elg, Swedish älg), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁élḱis, *h₁ólḱis (compare Polish łoś, Russian лось (losʹ), Vedic Sanskrit ऋश्य (ṛ́śya, “antelope”), variant of *h₁elh₁én (compare German Elen, Tocharian A yäl, Tocharian B ylem (“gazelle”), Lithuanian élnis (“stag”), Armenian եղնիկ (eġnik, “doe, hind”)), from *h₁el- (“deer”). Doublet of Elhaz.
Noun edit
elk (plural elk or elks)
- Any of various large species of deer such as the red deer, moose or wapiti (see usage notes).
- Any of the subspecies of the moose (Alces alces, alternatively named Eurasian elk to avoid confusion with the wapiti), that occurs only in Europe and Asia.
- (chiefly Europe, Commonwealth) Any moose (Alces alces), the largest member of the deer family.
- (Canada, US) Common wapiti (Cervus canadensis), the second largest member of the deer family, once thought to be a subspecies of red deer.
- (British India) Sambar (Cervus unicolor).
- 1813, James Forbes, Oriental Memoirs, page 281:
- In a narrow defile […] a male elk, (cervus alces, Lin.) of noble appearance, followed by twenty-two females, passed majestically under their platform, each as large as a common-sized horse.
Usage notes edit
Elk originally referred to the moose. The wapiti was named elk by European explorers in North America, who thought it resembled the moose.
The word elk is now commonly used in the same way as the word caribou is used for the subspecies of the reindeer. The only difference here is that it refers only to a single subspecies, while caribou refers to several subspecies of the reindeer.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
Translations edit
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
elk (plural elks)
- Obsolete form of elke (common swan (Cygnus cygnus, syn. Cygnus ferus)).
References edit
- “elk”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams edit
Afrikaans edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Pronoun edit
elk
Synonyms edit
Determiner edit
elk
- (in expressions only) Alternative form of elke (“every”)
- in elk geval — “in every (i.e. any) case”
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
From Middle Dutch elc. Compare English each, West Frisian elk, from Proto-Germanic *aiwô (“ever, always”) + *ga- + Proto-Germanic *hwilīkaz.
Pronunciation edit
Determiner edit
elk
Usage notes edit
- The Dutch determiners elk and ieder are entirely interchangeable. They do not exhibit the slight distinction that is usually made between English each and every.[1]
Inflection edit
Inflection of elk | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | elk | |||
inflected | elke | |||
comparative | — | |||
positive | ||||
predicative/adverbial | elk | |||
indefinite | m./f. sing. | elke | ||
n. sing. | elk | |||
plural | elke | |||
definite | elke | |||
partitive |
Synonyms edit
Descendants edit
Pronoun edit
elk
- (chiefly in expressions) everyone; everybody
- Melk is goed voor elk.
- Milk is good for everyone.
- Elk op zijn beurt.
- One at a time. (Literally: Everybody at their turn.)
References edit
Anagrams edit
Low German edit
Etymology edit
Compare Dutch elk, English each.
Pronoun edit
elk
Declension edit
gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
nominative | elk | elk(e) | elk | elk(e) | |
oblique | elken | elk(e) | elk | elk(e) |
See also edit
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Apparently from Old English eolh, though it is not found before 1475 and the phonetic development is unexpected, though compare dialectal English fleck (“flea”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
elk
Descendants edit
References edit
- “elk, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.