Alf

See also: alf, ALF, älf, and 'alf

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ælf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ælf

Proper noun

Alf

1. A diminutive of the male given names Alfred or Alfonso, from the Germanic languages.

Noun

Alf (plural Alfs)

1. (Australia, slang, derogatory) An uncultured Australian.
   • 1973, Australia. Parliament. Senate. Standing Committee on Education, Science and the Arts, Reference, Broadcasting and Television: Official Hansard Report (page 1076)

     Martin Sharp once described Sydney's western suburbs to me hazily as 'where the Alfs live'.

   • 2009, Michelle Arrow, Friday on Our Minds: Popular Culture in Australia Since 1945, page 96:

     Oz savaged suburbia as a wasteland of consumerism and conformity, peopled with 'Alfs' […]

   • 2016, Jon Piccini, Transnational Protest, Australia and the 1960s, page 74:

     Coote ended his piece with the claim that “[t]he Australian Alfs are beyond redemption”, and as such only small groups of militant aligned students and workers posed a real challenge to the system.

Anagrams

• fal, AFL, Fla., FAL, FLA, Fla, Fal, Flå, LFA

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse Alfr, alfr (“elf”), with an identical meaning in modern Danish. Also a medieval contraction of Adolf, and later used as a pet form of Alfred.

Proper noun

Alf

1. a male given name from Old Norse

Etruscan

Romanization

Alf

1. romanization of 𐌀𐌋𐌅

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse Alfr. Also a contraction of Adolf.

Proper noun

Alf

1. a male given name from Old Norse

Related terms

• female names: Alfhild, Vilde

References

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 8 803 males with the given name Alf living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1910s. Accessed on 19 May, 2011.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old Norse Alfr where <f> has been misinterpreted as /f/. Compare the inherited Alv and alv. Also a contraction of Adolf.

Proper noun

Alf m

1. a male given name from Old Norse, variant of Alv

Related terms

• female names: Alfhild, Vilde

References

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 8 803 males with the given name Alf living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1910s. Accessed on 19 May, 2011.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse Alfr. Also a contraction of Adolf.

Proper noun

Alf c (genitive Alfs)

1. a male given name from Old Norse

Related terms

• female names: Alfhild, Alva

Anagrams

• fal