faun
Americannoun
-
fauns
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing faun
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Ancient Rome: Mythology and Literature - Introductory
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
A Mythical Menagerie
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Donatello delivers himself to justice, no longer the preternatural faun but a man of grave responsibility.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
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
Gyasi plays a “badass” faun he described as “Mr. Tumnus, but in a leather jacket.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2019
Fall, in which the faun character accompanies a lead couple, was exuberantly performed by two casts: Tiler Peck, Joaquin De Luz and Daniel Ulbricht; and Ashley Bouder, Zachary Catazaro and Mr. Mejia.
From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2018
She took one last look at the bronze faun cowering before the sunrise and the Athena Parthenos.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
But little actually felt contemporary in this lollipops program of swans and fauns that, musically at least, might have been one of those old-timey Hollywood Bowl “Rhapsody Under the Stars.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2022
He has begun the long work of cataloging the statues who inhabit each room, classical-style representations of fauns, men fighting beasts, or children at play.
From Slate ● Sep. 10, 2020
Everybody has in the back of their mind the idea of fauns as lecherous forest creatures or fairies as deceitful shape-shifters.
From The Verge ● Sep. 10, 2019
The Fae folk — faeries, fauns, centaurs, trolls and such — are refugees from their war-torn homeland Tirnanoc, but they’ve found little welcome in the neo-Victorian steampunk city of The Burgue.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2019
The one with the fauns is the least damaged.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
