different between syph vs sylph

English

Etymology

Clipping of syphilis.

Noun

syph (uncountable)

1. (slang) Syphilis.
   • 1980, James Herbert, The Dark, Pan Books (1994), ?ISBN, page 229:

     But since Brother Martin, alias Marty Randall, had caught the syph three times in two years, his attitude had changed.

Quotations

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:syph.

Anagrams

• HYPS, hyps, hyps-

English

Etymology

First attested in 1657. From New Latin sylphes, coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”). Related to sylvan.

More at Wikipedia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?lf/
• Rhymes: -?lf

Noun

sylph (plural sylphs)

1. (mythology) An invisible being of the air.

   Synonym: sylphid

2. The elemental being of air, usually female.
3. (by extension) A slender woman or girl, usually graceful and sometimes with the implication of sublime station over everyday people.
   • 1811, Mary Bruton, Self-Control (novel):

4. (ornithology) Any of the mainly dark green and blue hummingbirds (genus Aglaiocercus), the male of which has a long forked tail.

Related terms

• sylvan (see for more terms)
• savage
• Silvanus

Translations

Further reading

• sylph on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, ?ISBN