Elf vs Fey - What's the difference?
elf | fey |
(Norse mythology) A luminous spirit presiding over nature and fertility and dwelling in the world of (Elfland). Compare angel, nymph, fairy.
* Shakespeare
Any from a race of mythical, supernatural beings resembling but seen as distinct from human beings. Usually skilled in magic or spellcrafting; sometimes depicted as clashing with dwarves, especially in modern fantasy literature.
(fantasy) Any of the magical, typically forest-guarding races bearing some similarities to the Norse (through Tolkien's Eldar)
A very diminutive person; a dwarf.
(dialectal, or, archaic) About to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.
(obsolete) Dying; dead.
(chiefly, Scottish) possessing second sight, clairvoyance, or clairaudience
overrefined, affected
* {{quote-magazine
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, title=Wrestling with Fame
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, title=Amateur Barbarians
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, passage= … he did not tell Mary Alonso, who had taken Dell's place as a source of gossip and information, and with whom he went out for drinks on occasion, usually along with Mary's partner, Roberta, a fey , freckly, dark-haired girl, …
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, author=Héctor Tobar
, title=The Barbarian Nurseries
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, publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
, isbn=9780374708931
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, passage=Guadalupe was a fey mexicana with long braids and a taste for embroidered Oaxacan blouses and overwrought indigenous jewelry, and also a former university student like Araceli.
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, title=Field Guide: The Club Rules
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, magazine=Town and Country
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, passage=Bespoke designer Kirk Miller, who offers a contemporary version at his Soho atelier, says, "A club collar shows that a man pays attention to detail. It's a simple way to communicate elegance." And please don't call it a Peter Pan, the club's fey sister.
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* {{quote-web
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, title=What's Your Problem
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Strange or otherworldly.
Spellbound.
Fairy folk collectively.
As nouns the difference between elf and fey
is that elf is a luminous spirit presiding over nature and fertility and dwelling in the world of Álfheim (Elfland). Compare angel, nymph, fairy while fey is fairy folk collectively.As an initialism ELF
is initialism of w:Earth Liberation Front|Earth Liberation Front|lang=en a radical environmentalism group.As an adjective fey is
about to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death.elf
English
Noun
(elves) (wikipedia elf)- Every elf , and fairy sprite, / Hop as light as bird from brier.
Derived terms
* elfin * elfinwood * elfish * Elfland * elflock * elven * elvish * light elves * dark elvesSee also
* fay * fairy * brownie * dwarf * hobbitReferences
* Marshall Jones Company (1930). Mythology of All Races'' Series, Volume 2 ''Eddic , Great Britain: Marshall Jones Company, 1930, pp. 220-221.Anagrams
* English nouns with irregular plurals ----fey
English
Alternative forms
* (l)Etymology 1
From (etyl) . More at (l).Adjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=Hoffman does not rely on his talent to carry him through a role. He spent five and a half months transmuting himself into Capote. … He lost 40 pounds and practiced the inscrutable voice and fey mannerisms for an hour or two every day. }}
citation, genre= , publisher=Simon and Schuster , isbn=9780743230360 , page=16 , passage=He'd stand at the board making jokes the kids didn't understand, improvising fey little couplets of dactylic verse. }}
citation, archiveorg= , accessdate=2012-09-17 , passage=Most Ivy League graduates are unaccustomed to pepper spray; perhaps he should spray himself in the face once or twice, to test his tolerance. He should also resist the urge to bring high-end camping equipment to protests—this will make him look fey and elitist. }}