Drow
//dɹoʊ// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.; “hidden people” (Faroese huldufólk, Norwegian huldrefolk), subterraneans (Norwegian underjordiske, Swedish underjordiska, Gutnish di sma undar jordi), fairies, “troll-folk”, and thereof (Swedish oknytt) Orkney, Shetland, countable, dated, uncountable
- 2 A member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.; ghost; cognate to Scandinavian folklore of gnomes, wights, trolls, etc, being supernatural ghosts Orkney, Shetland, countable, dated, uncountable
- 3 A member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.; “The devil”, cognate to Scanian dråe (“devil”). Orkney, Shetland, countable, dated, uncountable
- 4 A member of a fictional race of dark elves in various fantasy settings, such as Dungeons & Dragons. countable
- 5 A fictional constructed language spoken by the Drow. uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsEtymology
From Shetlandic and Orcadian Scots drow, from Norn *drou, *drau (compare 18th c. Norwegian drau, modern drov, drauv), alternatively *drog, from Old Norse draugr (“malevolent revenant”); along the variation trow, intermixed with Norn troll, from Old Norse trǫll (“troll, malevolent supernatural being”), a partial synonym to draugr. L-vocalisation occurred in the early 15th century in Middle Scots, so trolly, knolls probably became *trowie, knowes around this time.
Related phrases
More for "drow"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.