Meaning

3 senses

  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.

Examples

2 sentences

  1. The tinkles of sleigh bells among the snowy hills came like elfin chimes through the frosty air.

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  2. Tuppence had no claim to beauty, but there was character and charm in the elfin lines of her little face.

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Origin

From Middle English elven, from Old English elfen, ælfen (“nymph, spirit, fairy”), feminin

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”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: elfins
Singularelfin
Pluralelfins

regular

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
eleventhelfeliciteligibilityeligibleB2
elfin — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto