elfin

[ el-fin ]

adjective

1. of or like an elf.
2. small and charmingly spritely, merry, or mischievous.

noun

1. an elf.

elfin

/ ˈɛlfɪn /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or like an elf or elves
2. small, delicate, and charming

Word History and Origins

Origin of elfin¹

1560–70; alteration of Middle English elven elf, Old English elfen, ælfen nymph, equivalent to ælf elf + -en feminine suffix (cognate with German -in ); ælf cognate with German Alp nightmare, puck, Old Norse alfr elf

Example Sentences

I mean, Peter Jackson could not have created a moment more elfin.

From Outside Online

It wasn’t until my second full day here that Dody—an elfin woman in her late seventies with hip-length hair streaked gray—talked about the wrinkled work shirt and pair of jeans hanging on the back of a chair.

From Outside Online

Mickey Rooney, the elfin actor who could pull out all the stops on stage and on film, died Sunday in Los Angeles at the age of 93.

From The Daily Beast

Edmund Morgan, 97 Diminutive, almost elfin in appearance, he bestrode his field like a colossus.

From The Daily Beast

Before these famous cartoons went viral, Santa was depicted either as a tall, thin, and less than jolly fellow or an elfin man.

From The Daily Beast

In 1976, at the suggestion of Tony Marro, Mel Elfin hired him to be deputy Washington bureau chief.

From The Daily Beast

Some were already apparent with Zane: clenched fists, elfin-like ears, small body weight, a weak cry, feeding difficulties.

From The Daily Beast

That is the proper way to feed these elfin creatures of wood on whose backs little boys gallop through the land of dreams.

From Project Gutenberg

So still was the place that the caged cricket hanging from the eaves of Um's distant room beat time like an elfin metronome.

From Project Gutenberg

We walked on so together to the spot where we first had met, and where first the thrush had sounded for us his elfin clarion.

From Project Gutenberg

The word elfin, which became quite a common word, seems to have been invented by Spenser.

From Project Gutenberg

Why should the elfin's son be worse than the son of the devil himself?

From Project Gutenberg