Meaning

adjective suggestive of an elf in strangeness and otherworldliness; ; - John Mason Brown

adjective small and delicate

adjective relating to or made or done by or as if by an elf

originFrom Middle English elven, from Old English elfen, ælfen (“nymph, spirit, fairy”), feminine of elf, ælf (“elf”), equivalent to elf + -in. Cognate with Middle High German elbinne (“a fairy, nymph”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0