sylvan

Meaning

Adj

1. Pertaining to the forest, or woodlands.
2. Residing in a forest or wood.
3. Wooded, or covered in forest.

Noun

1. One who resides in the woods.
2. A fabled deity of the wood; a faun, a satyr.

Synonyms

silvan

wooded

woody

faun

satyr

timbered

woodland

woodsy

arboreous

boshy

country

deity

Hyphenated as

syl‧van

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsɪl.vən/

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin sylvanus, possibly via Middle French sylvain, from Latin silvanus, cognate with Latin Silvānus (“Roman god of the woods”), from silva (“forest”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). The ⟨y⟩ in sylvanus and its descendants is due to influence from Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē, “wood, matter”), transliterated in the Latin style as hyle. Analysable as sylva (“silva”) + -an.