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undine

[uhn-deen, uhn-deen]
noun
  1. any of a group of female water spirits described by Paracelsus.
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Origin of undine

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

Synonyms

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

Examples from the Web for undine

Historical Examples

  • "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
  1. any of various female water spirits
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Word Origin

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

n.

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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper