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Glite Dictionary
🧚 A water spirit 🐕 A sheepdog
kelpie

kelpie

1 9.9
A Scottish water spirit that looks like a horse and tricks people into deep water to drown them
  • noun
  • /ˈkɛlpi/
  • Literature
translation icon : kelpie
  • Many stories depict the kelpie as an enchanting creature that transforms into a horse near rivers.

Examples

  • In Scottish folklore, the kelpie is a dangerous water spirit that often appears as a horse.

  • And in that instant, the kelpie changed shape.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The kelpie, servant of the Devil.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The kelpie went to its native form, holding her helpless.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • But she also mentions that when she was about to go into the water, the kelpie spoke to her and she didn't understand it.

  • The kelpie: waterhorse.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Legends say that a kelpie can lure unsuspecting travelers to their doom in deep water.

Synonyms

kelpy
vskelpie
  • Literature
1 9.9

A water spirit that often looks like a horse and drowns people who ride it

is the same figure but written with the other traditional spelling
water spirit
vskelpie
  • Literature
1 9.8

A magical being in stories that lives in rivers, lakes, or the sea

refers specifically to a horselike being that lures and drowns travelers
water sprite
vskelpie
  • Literature
9.9

A small spirit from stories that lives in lakes or ponds

describes a larger horselike spirit that lures and drowns people
nixie
vskelpie
  • Archaic
9.9

A water spirit in German and Scandinavian stories that lives in rivers or lakes

is the Scottish version, usually horse shaped and deadly to travelers

Surface Forms

kelpie singular
kelpies plural

Etymology

Kelpie comes from old Scottish stories about a 'water horse' that lived by lakes and rivers and could lure people onto its back and drown them. That's why a kelpie in folklore is a dangerous, horse-like spirit.