dryad

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English[edit]

Evelyn De Morgan, The Dryad, 1884–1885

Etymology[edit]

From Old French driade (“wood nymph”), from Latin Dryas, Dryadis, from Ancient Greek Δρυάς (Druás, “dryad”), from δρῦς (drûs, “oak”), from Proto-Indo-European *derew(o)- (“tree, wood”); cf. Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

dryad (plural dryads)

  1. (Greek mythology) A female tree spirit.
    Hyponyms: Daphne, hamadryad
    Coordinate term: Meliai
    • 1914, Hans Christian Andersen, “The Dryad”, in William Alexander Craigie, transl., Fairy tales and other stories:
      There it had stood for years, close beside a mighty oak, under which sat often the kindly old priest, who told stories to the listening children. The young chestnut tree listened with them: the Dryad inside it, who was still a child, could remember the time when the tree was so small that it only reached a little higher than the ferns and long blades of grass.
  2. mountain avens, dryas

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