elfin

1. 1.

   suggestive of an elf in strangeness and otherworldliness

   “thunderbolts quivered with elfin flares of heat lightning”

   “the fey quality was there, the ability to see the moon at midday”

   Synonymsfey

   Similarsupernatural
2. 2.

   small and delicate

   “she was an elfin creature--graceful and delicate”

   “obsessed by things elfin and small”

   Synonymselflike

   Similarsmall
3. 3.

   relating to or made or done by or as if by an elf

   “elfin bells”

   “all the little creatures joined in the elfin dance”
4. 4.

   usually good-naturedly mischievous

   “perpetrated a practical joke with elfin delight”

   “elvish tricks”

   Synonymselfishelvish

   Similarplayful

Other forms of elfin

comparative

elfinner·

superlative

elfinnest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about elfin

What does elfin mean?

elfin means "suggestive of an elf in strangeness and otherworldliness". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in elfin?

elfin has 2 syllables: el-fin. The stress falls on "el". In IPA it is /ˈɛlfɪn/.

What is another word for elfin?

Close synonyms include fey, elflike, elfish, elvish. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is elfin a common word?

elfin is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.