sylph
Americannoun
-
a slender, graceful woman or girl.
-
(in folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.
noun
-
a slender graceful girl or young woman
-
any of a class of imaginary beings assumed to inhabit the air
Related Words
Sylph, salamander, undine ( nymph ), gnome were imaginary beings inhabiting the four elements once believed to make up the physical world. All except the gnomes were female. Sylphs dwelt in the air and were light, dainty, and airy beings. Salamanders dwelt in fire: “a salamander that … lives in the midst of flames” (Addison). Undines were water spirits: By marrying a man, an undine could acquire a mortal soul. (They were also called nymphs, though nymphs were ordinarily minor divinities of nature who dwelt in woods, hills, and meadows as well as in waters.) Gnomes were little old men or dwarfs, dwelling in the earth: ugly enough to be king of the gnomes.
Other Word Forms
- sylphic adjective
- sylphlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of sylph
1650–60; from New Latin sylphēs (plural), coined by Paracelsus; apparently blend of sylva (variant spelling of Latin silva “forest”) and Greek nýmphē nymph
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This Galadriel is not the cosmically attuned sylph we know from the films.
From Salon • Sep. 1, 2022
Ori and the Blind Forest sees a catlike, snow-white biped with wings who darts like a sylph across the screen on a journey to revivify an evanescent forest.
From Time • Nov. 7, 2016
This all comes together in her first solo, just after the curtain rises, when the sylph shows us how light and supernatural she is, and how much in love, with a skimming, spinning dance.
From Washington Post • Feb. 25, 2016
As the sylph, a delicate Sterling Hyltin instilled the role with equal parts speed and softness, which lent her springy jumps the diaphanous feel of mist seeping through a forest.
From New York Times • Feb. 14, 2016
“A monster, a maiden, a sylph of the ice. You kissed me, whispered stories in my ear. You sang to me and held me as I slept. Your laugh chased me into waking.”
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
