elk.
Any of various large species of deer such as the red deer, moose or wapiti (see usage notes).
Meaning & usage
Any of various large species of deer such as the red deer, moose or wapiti (see usage notes). Any of the subspecies of the moose (Alces alces, the largest member of the deer family, alternatively named Eurasian elk to avoid confusion with the wapiti), that occurs only in Europe and Asia.
Any of various large species of deer such as the red deer, moose or wapiti (see usage notes). Common wapiti (Cervus canadensis), the second largest member of the deer family, once thought to be a subspecies of red deer.
Any of various large species of deer such as the red deer, moose or wapiti (see usage notes). Sambar (Cervus unicolor).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English elk, from Old English eolc, eolh (“elk”), from Proto-West Germanic *elh, from Proto-Germanic *elhaz, *algiz (“elk”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁élḱis, *h₁ólḱis, variant of *h₁elh₁én, from *h₁el- (“deer”). See also Low German Elk, German Elch, Danish elg, Norwegian elg, Swedish älg; also Polish łoś, Russian лось (losʹ), Vedic Sanskrit ऋश्य (ṛ́śya, “antelope”); also German Elen, Tocharian A yäl, Tocharian B ylem (“gazelle”), Lithuanian élnis (“stag”), Armenian եղնիկ (eġnik, “doe, hind”). Doublet of Elhaz.
Obsolete form of elke (common swan (Cygnus cygnus, syn. Cygnus ferus)).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.