erlking
/ˈɜːlkɪŋ/
erlking noun: in German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children.
Noun (1)
erlking (plural erlkings)
- In German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children.
- This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated traveler.1962, Charles Kinbote [pseudonym; Vladimir Nabokov], Pale Fire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, published November 1985, →ISBN
- So easy for one young son to be swallowed up in a world teeming with Erlkings, real and imagined.2010, Rachel Billington, The Missing Boy, Hachette, →ISBN
Noun (2) capitalized: Erlking
Erlking (plural Erlkings)
- Alternative letter-case form of erlking.
Examples of erlking in a sentence
- He was in the forest looking to see the trees / But none were there / He found a girl / She found the erlking2012, ミラクルミュージカル, “Murders”, in Hawaii: Part II:
- By now, he seems less a cartoon character than some contemporary Erlking, the malicious spirit made famous by Goethe (and Schubert) but found originally in a Danish ballad.2018 October 22, Carol Rumens, “Poem of the week: Three Poetesses by Kristín Ómarsdóttir”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
Forms of erlking
| plural | erlkings |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Erlking |
| alternative form | erl-king |
| plural | Erlkings |
Origin of erlking
Partial calque of German Erlkönig (literally “alder-king”), a mistranslation of Danish ellerkonge (“king of the elves”).
Questions about erlking
- What does erlking mean?
- Erlking means in German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children.
- How do you use erlking in a sentence?
- He was in the forest looking to see the trees / But none were there / He found a girl / She found the erlking
- What part of speech is erlking?
- Erlking is a noun.
- How do you pronounce erlking?
- Erlking is pronounced /ˈɜːlkɪŋ/.
- What is the plural of erlking?
- The plural of erlking is erlkings.
Words near erlking in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: erlking (page history and authors); Erlking (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “erlking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/erlking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.