plural form of elf

Same with briefs, beliefs, roofs, and reliefs, as well as just about all words ending in double-f: tariffs, bailiffs, sheriffs, cliffs, mastiffs, bluffs, cuffs, earmuffs. Both words survived into Middle English and were active there, the former as elf (with the vowel of the plural), plural elves, the latter as elven, West Midlands dialect alven (plural elvene). The second edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1777–84) calls the word elf “obsolete” but reports that belief in such creatures “still subsists in many parts of our own country. The plural form of elf is elves . Especially for German learners the correct declension of the word Elf is crucial. The preferred plural of elf is elves, following the grammar of shelf and shelves or wolf and wolves. What is the plural form of "Elf"? Nouns ending in -ë forms the plural form by having the plural suffix -i replace the final vowel. Elf. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 1937, In a foreword to The Hobbit, Tolkien acknowledged that dwarfs was the “only correct plural” of dwarf, but that he had opted for dwarves “only when speaking of the ancient people to whom Thorin Oakenshield and his companions belonged.”, inaugurate, inauguration 'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'? The two elves approached the last goblin, still stuck to the ground, from both sides. testyourknowledge.club. House impeaches Trump again, insurrection Both words survived into Middle English and were active there, the former as elf (with the vowel of the plural), plural elves, the latter as elven, West Midlands dialect alven (plural elvene). One of the best ways to understand a word is to learn where it came from. This rule doesn’t apply to all such nouns, however. Arthurian. Only Language Geniuses Know The Plural Forms Of The Hardest 33 Words In English. The noun elf adheres to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below). Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Straight talking and methodical, "Smashing Grammar" (Our Grammar Book, 2019), some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change, A world in which elves exist and magic works offers greater opportunities to digress and explore. The album is never finished until it's on the shelves! casiupper casiupper Answer: Elves. ... What is the correct plural of 'quantum'? ), the plural of which was *elfenna, -elfen, from Proto-Germanic *albinjo-. ), 10 May 2019, Santa will fly in with two of his elfs, and Santa’s chair will be propped up so children can see Santa. ": elves Serf, for example, gets pluralized with a standard –s: serfs. elfe (plural elfen or elfene) 1. January 14, 2014 at 12:14 am. The appearance of elves in Christmas narratives became prominent in the United States in the 19th century. (noun) His work on The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, left in MS. and incomplete (the remainder is in the Laing MSS., Edinburgh University library), was published (a hundred copies) in 1815 by Sir Walter Scott, and in the Bibliotheque de Carabas (Lang) there is a French translation. Elf derives from Old English. Learn a new word every day. Biden sworn in as 46th President, impeach . What is the plural of elf? An elf (plural: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore.In medieval Germanic-speaking cultures, elves seem generally to have been thought of as beings with magical powers and supernatural beauty, ambivalent towards everyday people and capable of either helping or hindering them. Scho was so faire & so fresche, as faucon hire semed, An elfe out of an-othire erde, or ellis an Aungell.— The Wars of Alexander, 1450 1.1.1. . 1. a small imaginary person with magic powers. For example, the … . The declension of Elf as a table with all forms in singular (singular) and plural (plural) and in all four cases nominative (1st case), genitive (2nd case), dative (3rd case) and accusative (4th case). 1.1.1. Elves have been part of Germanic folklore since medieval times, where they were usually depicted as having a similar appearance to humans. Armed rioters storm Capitol building. Later, elves were reestablished as helpful beings, before becoming prominent in Christmas narratives as assistants to Santa Claus in his workshop. While both dwarfs and dwarves have demonstrated historical use for the noun (which, like elf, derives from Old English), the preference for dwarfs was perhaps encouraged by the title of Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Are You Good at Plurals? Tolkien, “The Hobbit Play” will feature 44 M.V. Nouns ending in -a, -o, -i, -u, -ië or a consonant forms a plural with the ending -r.For example, the word Elda has the plural form Eldar; the word Ainu has the plural form Ainur etc. In early folklore, elves were known as mischievous creatures that did anything from causing trouble to stealing children. Most People Don\\\’t Know The Plural Form of These Words. Spelling, in this case, is determined by phonetics. Inflections of 'elf' (n noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc. (She was so fair and happy and seemed elegant, an elfefrom anothe… (obsolete) A female elf, a fairy, nymph 1.1. The appearance of elves in Christmas narratives became prominent in the United States in the 19th century. Some nouns have a fixed plural form and take a plural verb. In Germanic folklore, the term elf referred to any of a variety of creatures, usually of small stature, not necessarily out to cause harm but always mischievous. What is the correct plural of 'cactus'? You must get at least 29/33 to ace this test. Elfs . The preferred plural of elf is elves, following the grammar of shelf and shelves or wolf and wolves. This game also comes with “bonus” game cards which you can include in the game or leave out depending on your preference. a diminutive person, especially a child. You must get at least 29/33 to ace this test. Modern use of the word elf almost always shows up in the plural as elves, with the spelling elfs turning up on infrequent occasions: Size doesn’t matter much in the world of elves. Correct! (Rita Ora) Shelves are normally made of strong materials such as wood, bamboo, or steel. As plurals of elf, both elfs and elves have long histories in English, and there is plenty of precedent for both, but elves has always been the more common form by far, and it remains so to this day. We speak of the leaves on the trees, a den of thieves, two halves making a whole. Elves is the standard plural form for elf according to the OED and it cites examples going back to Shakespear’s The Tempest from 1623 and Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan from 1651. /ɛlvz/. You must get at … Quanta . That might have been due partly to popular perception of elves as distinctly belonging to past times, leading to a scarcity of the word’s occurrence in then-contemporary prose. We can work on verb tenses, describing, prepositions, answering questions, and even the plural form of “elf!” This is a regular memory matching game so students will easily know what to do. Explanation: I did the test and got it right. In addition to elf / ælf (masc. ), Old English had parallel form *elfen (fem. We Added New Words to the Dictionary for January 2021, Study Up With Our Official SCRABBLE Dictionary. Although elfs may occasionally be found in print the accepted modern plural form of elf is elves. The Plural of Shelf The plural of shelf is shelves. Looking for something else? This involves opening and closing the glottis, which is in the larynx. Find more answers. The plural form of elk remains the same in both American English and British English. The latter form, moreover, is mostly shunned by English reference books and doesn’t pass spell check, … testyourknowledge.club. You must get at … Illustrations usually depict Santa’s elves as short and smiling creatures wearing green. But the popular fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien preferred the plural form dwarves in his works, possibly as a deliberate echo of elves: As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. In addition to elf / ælf (masc. Correct! To pluralize ''elf'' you can't just add an ''s'' like you do with many other nouns. | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Instead, ''elf'' is one of those less common nouns that you have... See full answer below. Nouns like this include: trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, … Elf, plural Elves, in Germanic folklore, originally, a spirit of any kind, later specialized into a diminutive creature, usually in tiny human form.In the Prose, or Younger, Edda, elves were classified as light elves (who were fair) and dark elves (who were darker than pitch); these classifications are roughly equivalent to the Scottish seelie court and unseelie court. Words From 1921: 100 Years Old and Still Around, Set your young readers up for lifelong success. Since these creatures usually work as a team (a necessity, given how relatively tiny they are), it’s important to know how to render the plural for their species. One characteristic of sounds is that they are either voiced (with vibrating vocal chords) or voiceless (without vibrating vocal chords). Note: this also works for the plural forms of both self and elf – as in, “Apply your-elves (apply yourselves),” and “Pull your-elves together.” Self*→ Elf*: As in, “An elf ish (selfish) person,” and “ Elf less (selfless) bravery,” and “I won’t stand for such elf ishness (selfishness).” — The Portland Press Herald, 9 Dec. 2019, Based on the classic by J.R.R. noun, plural elves [elvz]. In the epic poem Beowulf, which dates to around the 10th century, elves (rendered as ylfe) are among a “woeful breed” of creatures descended from the biblical son Cain. How to use a word that (literally) drives some pe... Do you know these earlier meanings of words? At various times, elves were believed to cause illness in humans or cattle; to cause people to have bad dreams by sitting upon them while they slept; or to swoop in and steal young children, replacing them with changelings. A noun comparable to elf that went its own route when it came to establishing a plural is dwarf. They are not used in the singular, or they have a different meaning in the singular. Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” describes the visitor as “a right jolly old elf.” In 1850, Louisa May Alcott completed a manuscript entitled Christmas Elves, but it was never published. Elf definition: In fairy stories , elves are small magical beings who play tricks on people. (in folklore) one of a class of preternatural beings, especially from mountainous regions, with magical powers, given to capricious and often mischievous interference in human affairs, and usually imagined to be a diminutive being in human form; sprite; fairy. What does elves mean? Do you disagree with something on this page. Slippery Words Quiz—Changing with the Times. They often had supernatural powers, and were sometimes considered potentially dangerous, but aloof. In 21st-century edited writing, it appears many times more often than elfs. 5 minutes ago In what ways might it … The voiceless \f\ sound that ends these words became a voiced \v\ simply by habit of speech when the word in question was pluralized. A poem called “The Wonders of Santa Claus,” published by Harper’s Weekly in 1857, describes the legend: “In his house upon the top of a hill, / And almost out of sight, / He keeps a great many elves at work, / All working with all their might.” An American women’s magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book is credited with one of the earliest depictions of elves as toy workers assisting Santa, with workshop illustrations adorning the cover of its 1873 Christmas issue. You must get at least 29/33 to ace this test. It’s personal growth that makes all the difference, according to the highly entertaining production of “Elf – The Musical” now running at the Lyric Music Theater in South Portland. New questions in English. Word Forms +-singular: elf: plural: elves: DEFINITIONS 1. The noun shelf adheres to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below). And of course, Santa Claus relies on a workforce of these tiny individuals to make the toys he delivers to children every December. The plural form is used to mark more than one specific thing. Declension Elf The plural of elf is elves . You must get at least 29/33 to ace this test. In more modern folklore, elves tend to be regarded as industrious and helpful, rather than havoc-wreaking. What is the plural form of "Elf"? Times (Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. In early folklore, elves were known as mischievous creatures that did anything from causing trouble to stealing children. The oldest use of elfs cited by OED is in John Dryden’s Fables, Ancient and Modern from 1700. humpadumpa says . Elves . Find more words! The mischievous creature known as the elf seems to turn up in all kinds of narrative universes—from the Brothers Grimm to Middle Earth to Harry Potter. A question surrounding a hard-working plural. Elves were a ripe subject for poets ranging from Chaucer to Shakespeare to Dryden, though no consensus could seem to be reached on how to render the plural. A world in which elves exist and magic works offers greater opportunities to digress and explore. ), the plural of which was *elfenna, -elfen, from Proto-Germanic *albinjo-. By then, use of elves as the preferred plural for the creature was well established in English, following the example set by many other nouns that end in an –f that converts to a v when the noun in pluralized: shelf becomes shelves; scarf (usually) becomes scarves; wolf and calf becomes wolves and calves. Over the rolling plains of Edelwilde walk giants, dwarfs, elves, fairies and many other creatures unknown to the rest of the world. Wrong!- What is the correct plural of 'goose'? Delivered to your inbox! Download Grammarly's app to help with eliminating grammar errors and finding the right words. (Terry Brooks) In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the elves are almost as small as insects. Plural Form. ): npl plural noun: Noun always used in plural form--for example, "jeans," "scissors. Vocational rather than academic, "Grammar for Grown-ups" is packed with real-life examples and keeps you engaged with a wealth of great quotations from Homer the Greek to Homer the Simpson. Arthur. Synonyms and related words +-Characters in stories. A word’s etymology can reveal a lot about the changes a word has gone through to get to where it is today in modern English. ), Old English had parallel form *elfen (fem. Then there are those nouns that end in –fe: wife and knife become wives and knives. The story now best known as “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” in which the creatures work during the night to help an indigent merchant, was published in the German Grimm’s Fairy Tales as “Die Wichtelmänner”; Margaret Hunt chose “The Elves” as the title when the story was translated into English in 1884. Later, elves were reestablished as helpful beings, before becoming prominent in Christmas narratives as assistants to Santa Claus in his workshop. Check out words from the year you were born and more! Parents’ is used in the plural form for both parents, so there is an apostrophe after the letter -s, as in parents’ house. 1) Elfs 2) Elves. Elves is the plural form of the noun elf, which refers to a fantasy creature. However, the details of these beliefs have varied … A selection of words from the chillier parts of t... Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz! Charter School students … there will be singing dwarves, dancing hobbits, and elves, along with other characters—Gollum, trolls, goblins, and even a dragon. Such creatures also turn up in advertising, where they are known for, among other things, making cookies inside a tree. The plural form of "elf" is "elves". Chief, despite ending in the same three letters as thief, gets pluralized as chiefs. ... What is the correct plural of 'elf'? — J.R.R. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the elves are almost as small as insects. Only Language Geniuses Know The Plural Forms Of The Hardest 33 Words In English. elves (elf ), Mythology (in folklore) one of a class of preternatural beings, esp. Is in the singular, or they have a fixed plural form of the Hardest 33 in. That end in –fe: wife and knife become wives and knives 2021, up! From 1921: 100 Years Old and still Around, Set your young readers up for lifelong success Hobbit... 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