Elven
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Originally, a female elf, a fairy, a nymph; (by extension) any elf.
"When you told Amberle that we must come here tonight, she reminded you that you had informed the Elvens at the High Council that she would be given a day or two to rest. You answered her by saying that what you told them was a necessary deception. What did you mean by that?"
- 2 An elm (a tree of the genus Ulmus, particularly the wych elm or Scots elm (Ulmus glabra))). Kent
- 1 Belonging or relating to, or characteristic of, elves; elfin, elflike.
"The rocks echoed then with voices and with song, as they had not done for many a day. There was the sound, too, of elven-harps and of sweet music; and as it echoed up towards them it seemed that the chill of the air was warmed, and they caught faintly the fragrance of woodland flowers blossoming in spring."
Example
More examples"The princess fell in love with an Elven prince."
Etymology
PIE word *albʰós Learned borrowing from Middle English elve, elven (“(also attributively) elf or fairy of either sex”) [and other forms], from Old English elfen, ælfen, ielfen (“female elf”), from elf, ælf, ielf (“elf”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *albiz (“elf, fairy”), from Proto-Indo-European *albʰós (“white”)) + -en (suffix forming feminine nouns). The English word is cognate with Middle High German elbinne (“fairy, nymph”).
From the attributive use of Middle English elven (“elf or fairy of either sex”) (see etymology 1), like English elfin, reinterpreted as elf + -en (suffix with the sense ‘pertaining to; having the qualities of; resembling’ forming adjectives). The word first appears in the English author and philologist J. R. R. Tolkien’s works The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955): see the quotations.
Probably a variant of elmen (“of or pertaining to an elm tree; composed of elm trees; made of elm wood”).
Related phrases
More for "elven"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.