elfin

/ˈɛlfən/

Someone who's tiny and a bit fragile can be described as elfin. Your grandmother might be especially proud of her little elfin feet.

Small people and children are often described as having elfin faces, particularly if there's a mischievous spark in their eyes. If your friend's ears are unusually petite — and rather adorable — you can describe them as elfin. The word clearly comes from elf, and it's sometimes used to mean "relating to elves," though it more commonly means "tiny like an elf." Edmund Spenser first used the word elfin in his 1590 epic poem, "The Faerie Queene."

Definitions of elfin

1. adjective

   small and delicate
   “she was an elfin creature--graceful and delicate”

   “obsessed by things elfin and small”

   synonyms: elflike

   little, small

   limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
2. adjective

   usually good-naturedly mischievous
   “perpetrated a practical joke with elfin delight”

   synonyms: elfish, elvish

   playful

   full of fun and high spirits
3. adjective

   suggestive of an elf in strangeness and otherworldliness
   “thunderbolts quivered with elfin flares of heat lightning”

   synonyms: fey

   supernatural

   not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material
4. adjective

   relating to or made or done by or as if by an elf
   “elfin bells”

   “all the little creatures joined in the elfin dance”