faun

American  

[fawn] / fɔn /

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. one of a class of rural deities represented as men with the ears, horns, tail, and later also the hind legs of a goat.

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faun British  

/ fɔːn /

noun

1. (in Roman legend) a rural deity represented as a man with a goat's ears, horns, tail, and hind legs

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• faunlike
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of faun

1325–75; Middle English (< Old French faune ) < Latin faunus; cf. Faunus

Explanation

A faun is a mythological creature that's half human and half goat. Go to many art museums and you'll see paintings of fauns cavorting through the forest or playing a flute. The faun first appeared in Roman mythology, and it's turned up in many art forms since then. There are paintings and sculptures of fauns from the 1800s, and a ten-minute symphonic piece by Claude Debussy, called "The Afternoon of a Faun" in English. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a book called "The Marble Faun," and the Chronicles of Narnia's character Mr. Tumnus is a faun. The word comes from the Latin Faunus, a god of the countryside.

Example Sentences

Donatello delivers himself to justice, no longer the preternatural faun but a man of grave responsibility.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

Instead, he reminds me of a curious faun: skittery, friendly, interested but naturally shy.

From The Guardian • Oct. 20, 2019

David Gyasi turns in a wonderful performance as a faun named Agreus, who defies social order and purchases a nice house in a nice community and as one might imagine, the neighbors are not thrilled.

From Salon • Aug. 29, 2019

This month, Mr. Mejia danced the faun soloist in the Fall section of Jerome Robbins’s “The Four Seasons” and Mercutio in Mr. Martins’s “Romeo + Juliet.”

From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2018

The little bronze faun cast a shadow across the dry fountain.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan