Elves

How to spell elves

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce elves

What does elves mean?

1. nounMythical or fantasy beings, usually small and humanlike, often associated with magic or with helping at Christmas.

Elves in a sentence

• The children left out biscuits for the elves on Christmas Eve.

• In the novel, the elves live deep within the ancient forest.

Where does elves come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the plural of 'elf', which descends from the Old English 'ælf', the name for a class of supernatural beings in early Germanic belief. The word goes back to a common Germanic root that also produced the Old Norse 'alfr' and the German 'Alp', and it once referred to mischievous or even dangerous spirits rather than the cheerful figures of modern fantasy. Traces of that older, darker meaning survive in the word 'nightmare', once linked to an 'elf' pressing on a sleeper, and in personal names such as Alfred, literally 'elf counsel'. The familiar 'i' before 'f' words like elf, half, and leaf shift to '-ves' in the plural, which is why the spelling becomes 'elves' rather than 'elfs', and that f-to-v change is the main thing to remember.

How the word is built

• elf (Old English ælf: a supernatural being)
• -ves (plural formed by changing -f to -ves)