English

Noun

elfin ‎(plural elfins)

1. An elf; an inhabitant of fairy-land.
2. A little urchin or child.

Etymology 2

Partly from attributive use of Etymology 1, but reanalysed by Spenser as if equivalent to elf +‎ -en.

Adjective

elfin ‎(comparative more elfin, superlative most elfin)

1. Relating to or resembling an elf, especially in its tiny size or features.
   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter I:

     Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.

   • 2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:

     He’s forced to travel back to 1969 to prevent an evil alien (a shockingly effective, nearly unrecognizable Jemaine Clement of Flight Of The Conchords, playing sort of a psychotic extraterrestrial-biker serial killer) from destroying the world by killing Brolin. Smith is aided in his quest by an elfin, time-jumping alien with psychic powers played by another Coen brothers veteran, A Serious Man star Michael Stuhlbarg.

Synonyms

• elvish