wood nymph

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableliterary

   In old stories, a young female spirit who lives in a forest or in trees and guards the natural world.

   Grammar: A countable noun: one wood nymph, many wood nymphs.

   Patterns

   • a wood nymph in the forest

   The painting shows a wood nymph resting beside a stream.

   In the legend, a wood nymph protects the oldest oak.

   She dressed as a wood nymph for the fairy party.

2. 2nouncountablebiology

   A medium-sized brown butterfly of North America with large eyespots on its wings.

   Grammar: Used in nature writing: a wood nymph butterfly.

   Patterns

   • a wood nymph butterfly

   A wood nymph landed on the fence by the meadow.

   The children spotted a wood nymph in the long grass.

   The wood nymph's eyespots help confuse hungry birds.

Word forms

Common combinations

a graceful wood nymph

A graceful wood nymph appears in the second act.

legend of the wood nymph

The legend of the wood nymph is told in the village.

wood nymph butterfly

A wood nymph butterfly fluttered over the clover.

dress as a wood nymph

The dancers dressed as wood nymphs in green silk.

Synonyms and how they differ

dryad

Dryad is the Greek name specifically for a tree spirit, so it is more exact and more literary than wood nymph.

sprite

A sprite is a small spirit of any kind, not limited to forests.

fairy

Fairy is a wider folk-tale creature that can be of any sort, while a wood nymph belongs to the woods and to Greek tradition.

naiad

A naiad is a water nymph, which makes her the counterpart of a wood nymph.

Word family

nymph noun

a female nature spirit in Greek and Roman myth

nymphet noun

a word for a young girl, now rare and often disapproved of

woodland noun

land covered with trees

wooded adjective

covered with trees

Commonly confused: wood nymph or wood nymph spirit?

Practice

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