sprite
Americannoun
noun
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(in folklore) a nimble elflike creature, esp one associated with water
-
a small dainty person
-
an icon in a computer game which can be manoeuvred around the screen by means of a joystick, etc
Related Words
See fairy.
Other Word Forms
- spritehood noun
- spriteless adjective
- spritelike adjective
Etymology
Origin of sprite
1400–1450; Middle English sprit, spreit, from Anglo-French spirit(e), Old French esprit, espirit(e), from Latin spīritus spirit
Explanation
A sprite is a spirit, a mythical, fairy-like creature who lives by the water. Sprites are supernatural and sometimes tricksy. Sprites are particularly common Western European folk tales, and one of the most famous literary sprites is Ariel from Shakespeare's The Tempest. Elves and fairies can be described as sprites, and so can the water nymphs from Ancient Greek mythology. Sprite comes from the Old French esprit, or "spirit," and the Latin root spiritus. An older alternate spelling, now obsolete, was spright, which led to the adjective sprightly, "animated or lively."
Vocabulary lists containing sprite
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Artemis Fowl
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Mythology
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Local drag artist Adam Carver, also known as Fatt Butcher, plays the quick-witted sprite Puck, and admitted that they brought some of their drag persona to the role.
From BBC • Apr. 23, 2026
I amused them by wearing a flower crown and pitching my voice high to play Puck, a mischievous sprite.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 5, 2024
When Messi and team arrived, the sprite with all the ingenuity had scored six goals in World Cups yet none in any knockout rounds.
From Washington Post • Dec. 17, 2022
In a sport that has so many women with massive shoulders and thighs, Diggins looks like a sprite in her racing suit, and it’s not clear exactly where she gets her power.
From New York Times • Feb. 8, 2022
From the instant Miss Mallory had held the sprite of a child to her chest on that foggy morning eleven years ago, she’d known the girl was special.
From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
