drow

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drow

/dɹəʊ/ UK
/dɹaʊ/ UK
/dɹoʊ/ US
/dɹaʊ/ US

Rhymes with -əʊ, -aʊ

Where it comes from

From Shetlandic and Orcadian Scots drow, from Norn *drou, *drau (compare 18th c. Norwegian drau, modern drov, drauv), alternatively *drog, from Old Norse draugr (“malevolent revenant”); along the variation trow, intermixed with Norn troll, from Old Norse trǫll (“troll, malevolent supernatural being”), a partial synonym to draugr. L-vocalisation occurred in the early 15th century in Middle Scots, so trolly, knolls probably became *trowie, knowes around this time.

noun drow · trow

Orkney, Shetland, countable, dated, uncountable “hidden people” (Faroese huldufólk, Norwegian huldrefolk), subterraneans (Norwegian underjordiske, Swedish underjordiska, Gutnish di sma undar jordi), fairies, “troll-folk”, and thereof (Swedish oknytt)
Orkney, Shetland, countable, dated, uncountable ghost; cognate to Scandinavian folklore of gnomes, wights, trolls, etc, being supernatural ghosts
Orkney, Shetland, countable, dated, uncountable “The devil”, cognate to Scanian dråe (“devil”).
countable A member of a fictional race of dark elves in various fantasy settings, such as Dungeons & Dragons.
Similar: dark elf
uncountable A fictional constructed language spoken by the Drow.

Translations

Every language

noun fictional dark elf

Français	drow

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Cite this

MLA

"drow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/drow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

drow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/drow

Chicago

"drow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/drow.

BibTeX

@misc{drow_2026,
  title = {drow},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/drow},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}