alf
/ælf/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.10 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A supernatural being similar to an elf; one of the Dǫkkálfar or Ljósalfar.
name
A diminutive of the male given names Alfred and Alfonso, from the Germanic languages.
name
Initialism of Animal Liberation Front (name used by animal rights activists engaging in direct action).
name
Initialism of automatic letter facing: mechanical postal system introduced in the UK in 1957 to align the stamps to the correct position for the franking machine.
name
Example Sentences
- "As the Scandinavians were at that time still worshippers of Thor and Odin, the belief in Alfs and Dwarfs accompanied them to their new abodes, and there, as elsewhere, survived the introduction of Christianity."
- "[T]he charm suggests rather that the Ases had sunk to a level where they could be counted together with witches and lesser wights, than that the alfs were seen as godly beings at the time the charm was composed."
- "Martin Sharp once described Sydney's western suburbs to me hazily as 'where the Alfs live'."
- "Oz savaged suburbia as a wasteland of consumerism and conformity, peopled with 'Alfs' […]"
- "Coote ended his piece with the claim that “[t]he Australian Alfs are beyond redemption”, and as such only small groups of militant aligned students and workers posed a real challenge to the system."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -, alf, alfr