dryad
/ˈdɹaɪəd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.12 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A female tree spirit; a woodnymph or tree nymph.
noun
Any of the dryas plants, especially the plant mountain avens.
Example Sentences
- "No Dryads sought to avert the fate of their kindred trees - no Nereides sported on the waves."
- "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."
Etymology
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”).
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Meliai