The paper presents a theoretical analysis on the propagation characteristics of the high-frequency wave in an elastic waveguide whose diameter is less than or similar to the wavelength. The theoretical results were verified by comparing them with the numerical results obtained by the boundary-element method. The ratio of the waveguide diameter to the wavelength affects the number of the existing wavenumber, and thus it affects the propagation characteristics. In the media with attenuation, the trend is similar to that in the media without attenuation except the decreasing amplitude.