| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024sylph /sɪlf/USA pronunciation n. [countable]- a slender, graceful woman or girl.
sylph•ic, adj. WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024sylph (silf ),USA pronunciation n. - a slender, graceful woman or girl.
- Mythology(in folklore) one of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.
- Neo-Latin sylphēs (plural), coined by Paracelsus; apparently blend of, blended sylva (variant spelling, spelled of Latin silva forest) and Greek nýmphē nymph
- 1650–60
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged 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.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: sylph /sɪlf/ n - a slender graceful girl or young woman
- any of a class of imaginary beings assumed to inhabit the air
Etymology: 17th Century: from New Latin sylphus, probably coined from Latin silva wood + Greek numphē nymphˈsylphˌlike, rare ˈsylphic adj |