Word.ws English Dictionary

knife-ear

knife-ear noun: an elf.

Noun

knife-ear (plural knife-ears)

  1. (derogatory, slang) An elf.
    • You've a lot of nerve, knife-ears. This'll go badly for you.2009 November 3, BioWare (developer), David Gaider (lead writer), Dragon Age: Origins, →OCLC, scene: wedding cutscene in the City Elf origin
    • "Hard to believe the elves wiped out the Knights of Saint Augustine. Their captain was capable of summoning the angel, you know? How did a couple of knife-ears stand up to the Kingdom's strongest knights and an angel?”2020, 616th Special Information Battalion (trans. ZackZeal), Her Majesty's Swarm: Volume 1, unnumbered page

Forms of knife-ear

pluralknife-ears
alternative formknife ear

Origin of knife-ear

From an allusion to the pointed ears common in fantasy depictions of elves. Popularised by Dragon Age: Origins (2009) and its subsequent use in the Dragon Age franchise. Possibly influenced by the earlier round-ear.

Questions about knife-ear

What does knife-ear mean?
Knife-ear means an elf.
What part of speech is knife-ear?
Knife-ear is a noun.
What is the plural of knife-ear?
The plural of knife-ear is knife-ears.

Words near knife-ear in the dictionary

  1. knife-and-fork
  2. knife-boy
  3. knife-boys
  4. knife-colored
  5. knife-coloured
  6. knife-ear
  7. knife-edge
  8. knife-edge effect
  9. knife-edge effects
  10. knife-edges
  11. knife-handle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: knife-ear (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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