To provide a liquid crystalline compound exhibiting high stability against heat, light or the like, high clearing point, low lower limit temperature of a liquid crystal phase, low viscosity, appropriate optical anisotropy, large dielectric constant anisotropy, appropriate elastic modulus, and excellent compatibility with other liquid crystalline compounds, and to provide a liquid crystal composition containing the above compound and a liquid crystal display element including the composition.

The compound is expressed by formula (1). In the formula, for example, R¹ represents fluorine or alkyl having 1 to 10 carbon atoms; ring A¹ and ring A² represent 1,4-phenylene or 1-4-phenylene in which at least one hydrogen is substituted with fluorine; Z¹, Z² and Z³ represent a single bond; L¹ and L² represent hydrogen or fluorine; X¹ represents fluorine or -CF₃; m is 1; and n is 0.