selkie

selkie

English

Alternative forms

• silkie

Etymology

From Scots selkie fowk (“seal folk”).

Noun

selkie (plural selkies)

1. A seal which can magically transform into a human by shedding its skin.

Translations

mythological creature

Chinese: Mandarin: 海豹人 (hǎibàorén), 海豹精 (hǎibàojīng) Danish: sælkvinde c Faroese: kópakona f French: selkie (fr) m or f, phoque-garou (fr) m German: Selkie Irish: maighdean mhara f, (rare) maighdean róin f, banrón m, leanbh-rón m Japanese: セルキー (serukī) Korean: 셀키 (selki) Manx: moidyn varrey f Russian: шелки (šelki), селки (selki) Scots: (collectively) selkie fowk, (male) silkie man, (female) selkie-wife Scottish Gaelic: maighdeann-mhara f, (rare) maighdeann-ròin f

Anagrams

• Lieske

---

Scots

Alternative forms

• saelkie, selky, seilkie, sejlki, shelky, silkey, silkie, sulky
• sylkie (Shetland)

Etymology

selch +‎ -ie

Noun

selkie (plural selkies)

1. Diminutive of selch (“common seal, grey seal”)

Derived terms

• silkie man (“male selkie”, literally “male seal”)
• selkie-wife (“female selkie, mermaid”, literally “female seal”)
• selkie fowk (“selkie”, literally “seal people”)

Further reading

• “selch” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
• "selkie" in The Orkney Dictionary, 1996, by Margaret Flaws and Gregor Lamb.