Dictionary

elver en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɛlvə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Variant of eelfare, originally "brood of young eels", from Middle English *elfare, *elvare, from el (“eel”) + fare (“group of journeyers”). Equivalent to eel + fare. Liberman instead connects the second element of this word to a putative Old English suffix *-for(e), but there is no need to posit such a suffix when the traditional etymology suffices. Furthermore, such a suffix is not securely attested, and the spelling of the word's earliest attestation (as yele fare, ell vare) implies Middle English /aː/.

Meanings

1. A young eel.
   • When these glass eels enter freshwater they transform again into elvers – miniature versions of the adult eels. 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 69:

Forms

Translations (19)

es angula (a young eel) · nl palinkje (a young eel) · mi ngāeroero (a young eel) · fr bouiron (a young eel) · ast angula (a young eel) · ga luathóg (a young eel) · mi ngorengore (a young eel) · mi nīoreore (a young eel) · nl aaltje (a young eel) · da glasål (a young eel) · ca anguiló (a young eel) · mk јагулче (a young eel) · gl meixón (a young eel) · fr civelle (a young eel) · fr pibale (a young eel) · de Steigaal (a young eel) · ca angula (a young eel) · nl glasaal (a young eel) · fr anguille de verre (a young eel)