sylvan

American  

[sil-vuhn] / ˈsɪl vən /

Or silvan

adjective

1. of, relating to, or inhabiting the woods.

2. consisting of or abounding in woods or trees; wooded; woody.

   a shady, sylvan glade.

3. made of trees, branches, boughs, etc.

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noun

1. a person dwelling in a woodland region.

2. a mythical deity or spirit of the woods.

sylvan British  

/ ˈsɪlvən /

adjective

1. of, characteristic of, or consisting of woods or forests

2. living or located in woods or forests

3. idyllically rural or rustic

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noun

1. an inhabitant of the woods, esp a spirit

Etymology

Origin of sylvan

1555–65; < Latin sylvānus, spelling variant of silvānus, equivalent to silv ( a ) forest + -ānus -an

Explanation

The adjective sylvan refers to a shady, wooded area. The word suggests a peaceful, pleasant feeling, as though you were far away from the noise of modern life. As a noun, sylvan means a being that inhabits the woods. The Roman god of woods and fields was known as Silvanus, sometimes also known as the half-man, half-goat sylvan called Pan. Shakespeare’s character Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, seems based on a sylvan, and other authors used the image as well. The adjectival use of the Middle French word sylvain evolved in the mid-16th century. The word is most often used today to describe an idyllic wooded area.

Example Sentences

If it weren’t for the long-ago gift of some 3,000 gorgeous sylvan acres from a cranky jailbird with a civic conscience and a large and very taxable real estate portfolio, we wouldn’t have Griffith Park.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026

Its august and influential members frolic each year in the sylvan Bohemian Grove.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2023

The movie is romantic slapstick, set far from the bohemian Lower East Side in sylvan Vermont.

From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2022

Consider the hectares and hectares of fences and hedges, often erected at considerable cost to transform a yard, and certainly a pool, into an owner’s sylvan duchy.

From Washington Post • Jul. 20, 2022

Ihe sylvan fields, forests, and shores had been mowed down, paved over, and built up with roads, bridges, hospitals, boatyards, jails, and military bases, cities in and of themselves.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly