different between elfin vs elsin

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??lf?n/
• Rhymes: -?lf?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English elven, from Old English elfen, ælfen (“nymph, spirit, fairy”), feminine of elf, ælf (“elf”), equivalent to elf +? -en. Cognate with Middle High German elbinne (“a fairy, nymph”).

Noun

elfin (plural elfins)

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.

Etymology 2

Partly from attributive use of Etymology 1, but reanalysed by Spenser as if equivalent to elf +? -en. Compare elven (adj), elvan.

Adjective

elfin (comparative more elfin, superlative most elfin)

1. Relating to or resembling an elf or elves, especially in its tiny size or features.

   • Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.

Translations

Synonyms

• see list in elven

Anagrams

• lifen, nifle

Dutch

Alternative forms

• elvin

Etymology

From elf +? -in.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?f?n/
• Hyphenation: el?fin
• Rhymes: -?n

Noun

elfin f (plural elfinnen, diminutive elfinnetje n, masculine elf)

1. A female elf (fantasy humanoid).

English

Alternative forms

• elsen

Etymology

From Middle English aslen, elsen (“an awl or some other pointed instrument or tool”), either from Middle Dutch elsene, alsene, from Old High German alansa, from Proto-Germanic *alisn, *alasn, or from an unrecorded Old English form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??lz?n/

Noun

elsin (plural elsins)

1. (Britain, dialect) A shoemaker's awl.

References

Anagrams

• LINEs, Niles, lenis, liens, lines, lisne