dwarf
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: dwôrf
ipa: /dwɔɹf/
ipa: /dwɔːf/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)f
Forms: form: dwarfs
form: dwarves
Etymology: From Middle English dwergh, dwerw, dwerf, from Old English dweorg, from Proto-West Germanic *dwerg, from Proto-Germanic *dwergaz.
Cognate with Scots droich, dwerch (“dwarf, midget”); Old High German twerc (German, Luxembourgish Zwerg (“dwarf”)); Old Norse dvergr (Danish dværg (“dwarf, midget”), Faroese dvørgur (“dwarf”), Icelandic dvergur (“dwarf”), Norwegian Bokmål dverg (“dwarf”), Norwegian Nynorsk dverg, verg (“dwarf”), Swedish dvärg (“dwarf”)); Old Frisian dwirg (Saterland Frisian Dwärch (“dwarf”), West Frisian dwerch (“dwarf”)); Middle Low German dwerch, dwarch, twerg (German Low German Dwarg (“dwarf”)); Middle Dutch dwerch, dworch (Dutch dwerg (“dwarf”)).
The Modern English noun has undergone complex phonetic changes. The form dwarf is the regular continuation of Old English dweorg, but the plural dweorgas would have given rise to dwarrows and the oblique stem dweorge- would have led to dwery. These forms are sometimes found as the nominative singular in Middle English texts and in English dialects. A parallel case is that of Old English burg giving burgh, borough, burrow, bury.
Senses: examples: text: Nidavellir, which is sometimes called Svartalfheim, where the dwarfs (who are also known as dark elves) live beneath the mountains and build their remarkable creations.
ref: 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 20:
topics: human-sciences
mysticism
mythology
philosophy
sciences
synonyms: dwarfin
dwarrow
glosses: Any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often as short with long beards, and sometimes as clashing with elves.
synonyms: elf
midget
pygmy
antonyms: ettin
giant
glosses: A person of short stature, often one whose limbs are disproportionately small in relation to the body as compared with typical adults, usually as the result of a genetic condition.
examples: text: dwarf tree
text: dwarf honeysuckle
synonyms: runt
glosses: An animal, plant or other thing much smaller than the usual of its sort.
examples: text: But none of those brown dwarfs were speeding along on a trajectory that would carry them out of the galaxy like “runaway” hypervelocity stars observed by astronomers in the last two decades.
ref: 2024 August 21, Ashley Strickland, “An unusual object is moving so fast it could escape the Milky Way. Scientists aren’t certain what it is”, in CNN:
topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
glosses: A dwarf star.
Derived terms: bedwarf
black dwarf
blue dwarf
brown dwarf
Cuvier's dwarf caiman
durgan
durgy
dwarfage
dwarf beech
dwarf bilberry
dwarf birch
dwarf cassowary
dwarf cherry
dwarf chimpanzee
dwarf coastweed
dwarf cobweb weaver spider
dwarf crocodile
dwarf ctenopoma
dwarf dandelion
dwarfdom
dwarf elder
dwarf eldest daughter
dwarf elliptical galaxy
dwarf emu
dwarfen
dwarven
Dwarfer
dwarfess
dwarfette
dwarf galaxy
dwarf gourami
dwarf green anole
dwarf-holder
dwarf holder
dwarf horsetail
dwarf huckleberry
dwarfify
dwarfish
dwarvish
dwarfism
dwarf jade
dwarf joe-pye weed
dwarfkind
dwarf lemur
dwarflike
dwarfling
dwarfmaid
dwarf mistletoe
dwarf morningglory
dwarf morning-glory
dwarf morning glory
dwarfness
dwarf nettle
dwarf nova
dwarf olive
dwarf planet
dwarf planetary
dwarf rabbit
dwarf Russian almond
dwarf seahorse
dwarf siren
dwarf sperm whale
dwarf spheroidal
dwarf spheroidal galaxy
dwarfsploitation
dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants
dwarf star
dwarf thistle
dwarf tinamou
dwarf tossing
dwarf wall
dwarfy
dwelf
dwobbit
Elandsberg dwarf chameleon
fat-tailed dwarf lemur
gas dwarf
Groves' dwarf lemur
hairy-eared dwarf lemur
ice dwarf
island dwarf
Mediterranean dwarf palm
orange dwarf
red dwarf
Roosmalens' dwarf marmoset
Russian winter white dwarf hamster
semidwarf
shaggy dwarf morning glory
Siberian dwarf hamster
Smith's dwarf chameleon
sub-brown dwarf
subdwarf
Tanishpa's dwarf gecko
weredwarf
white dwarf
yellow dwarf