undine

[uhn-deen, uhn-deen]

noun

any of a group of female water spirits described by Paracelsus.

Origin of undine

< New Latin undīna (1658; coined by Paracelsus), equivalent to Latin und(a) wave, water + -īna -ine¹

Synonyms for undine

See sylph.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for undine

Historical Examples of undine

"She's like Undine after she had found her soul," said the Englishman.
The Eternal City
Hall Caine
You remind me just now of pictures I have seen of Undine and the woodland nymphs.
Pretty Madcap Dorothy
Laura Jean Libbey
Urquhart called her Undine, and she was mostly known as the Mermaid.
Love and Lucy
Maurice Henry Hewlett
I will sell it, fair Undine, and you shall have the proceeds.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
Then there is Undine, but she only appears on the operatic stage, and that but rarely.
From a Terrace in Prague
Lieut.-Col. B. Granville Baker

British Dictionary definitions for undine

undine

noun

any of various female water spirits

Word Origin for undine

C17: from New Latin undina, from Latin unda a wave

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for undine

1821, from Modern Latin Undina (1650s), coined by Paracelsus ("De Nymphis") for a water spirit in his alchemical system, from Latin unda "a wave" (see water). Popularized by German romance "Undine, eine Erzählung" (1811) by Baron F.H.C. La Motte Fouqué. Undinism (1928) was coined by sex researcher Havelock Ellis to describe the fetish for urine (which Ellis had); nowadays it would be called urophilia.