sylph

[ silf ]
/ sɪlf /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR sylph ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a slender, graceful woman or girl.
(in folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.

Origin of sylph

1650–60; < New Latin sylphēs (plural), coined by Paracelsus; apparently blend of sylva (variant spelling of Latin silva forest) and Greek nýmphē nymph

SYNONYMS FOR sylph

2 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.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR sylph ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM sylph

sylph·ic, adjective sylph·like, adjective

Words nearby sylph

syllepsis, syllogism, syllogist, syllogistic, syllogize, sylph, sylphid, sylva, sylvan, sylvaner, sylvania

Words related to sylphlike

sinewy, gangly, lanky, slim, slender, gaunt, rangy, sparse, skinny, svelte, angular, wiry, agile, slight, buoyant, fluffy, loose, delicate, easy, lightweight

Example sentences from the Web for sylphlike

  • I had red cheeks and was ashamed of them, and my stocky, square-shouldered figure was anything but sylphlike.

    Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton College |Jessie Graham Flower

  • The young women have none of the sylphlike appearance of the Mandingoes or Soosoos.

    Captain Canot |Brantz Mayer

  • For at this writing in those parts the slender, sylphlike string-bean is not playing a minor part, as with us.

    Europe Revised |Irvin S. Cobb

  • It is one of the commonest delusions among fat men that horseback riding will bring them down and make them sylphlike and willowy.

    Cobb's Anatomy |Irvin S. Cobb

British Dictionary definitions for sylphlike

sylph
/ (sɪlf) /

noun

a slender graceful girl or young woman
any of a class of imaginary beings assumed to inhabit the air

Derived forms of sylph

sylphlike, rare sylphic, sylphish or sylphy, adjective

Word Origin for sylph

C17: from New Latin sylphus, probably coined from Latin silva wood + Greek numphē nymph