sílfide

See also: silfide

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• sylphide (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from French sylphide, from New Latin sylphes, coined by Swiss occultist Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”), or otherwise Ancient Greek σίλφη (sílphē, “beetle”).

More at sylph.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsiw.fi.d͡ʒi/ [ˈsiʊ̯.fi.d͡ʒi]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsiw.fi.d͡ʒi/ [ˈsiʊ̯.fi.d͡ʒi]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsiw.fi.de/ [ˈsiʊ̯.fi.de]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈsil.fi.dɨ/ [ˈsiɫ.fi.ðɨ]

• Hyphenation: síl‧fi‧de

Noun

sílfide f (plural sílfides)

1. female equivalent of silfo
2. sylph (slender woman or girl)

   Synonyms: esbelta, magra

Related terms

• silfídico
• silfo

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsilfide/ [ˈsil.fi.ð̞e]
• Rhymes: -ilfide
• Syllabification: síl‧fi‧de

Noun

sílfide f (plural sílfides)

1. (alchemy, folklore) sylph

Hypernyms

• elemental

Further reading

• “sílfide”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28