Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell elf

hear itelf/ɛlf/nounSounds

What it means: A small, magical creature in folklore.

In a sentence: The little elf danced around the Christmas tree.

The part people get wrong

Often misspelled as elfe or elff.

Same family: elves, elvish, elven, fairy, dwarf. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Elf comes from Old English "ælf," which referred to a kind of supernatural being in Germanic myths. Over time, elves changed from scary spirits in old stories to the friendly, toy-making helpers we see in modern Christmas tales.

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