sylvan
/ˈsɪl.vən/ adjective, noun, proper noun
Forms sylvans silvan
- adjective Pertaining to the forest, or woodlands.
- adjective Residing in a forest or wood.
- adjective Wooded, or covered in forest.
- noun One who resides in the woods.
- noun (mythology) A fabled deity of the wood; a faun, a satyr.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A community in North Middlesex municipality, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada.
- proper noun A ghost town in Panther Creek Township, Cass County, Illinois, United States.
- proper noun A township in Osceola County, Michigan, United States.
- proper noun A township in Washtenaw County, Michigan.
- proper noun A township in Cass County, Minnesota, United States, named after Sylvan Lake.
- proper noun A town and unincorporated community therein, in Richland County, Wisconsin, United States.
Synonyms
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.
An altered form of French Sylvain, or borrowed from Swedish Sylvan.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Of or pertaining to a sylva; forestlike; hence, rural; rustic.
- adjective Abounding in forests or in trees; woody.
- noun A fabled deity of the wood; a satyr; a faun; sometimes, a rustic.
- noun A liquid hydrocarbon obtained together with furfuran (tetrol) by the distillation of pine wood; --called also methyl tetrol, or methyl furfuran.
Etymology [See Silvan, a.]
Etymology [L. Sylvanus, better Silvanus. See Silvan, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sylvan”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details