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.

---

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

---

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

Example Sentences

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

According to the DSM-5, my trauma originated in learning about Jason’s trauma; it arose in that moment when I stepped off the veranda beside that sylvan lake and checked my email.

From New York Times • Jul. 5, 2022

Scientists are also designing proteins with amino acid compositions similar to those in feed made of fish but created from sawdust and other forest residue plentiful in the sylvan state of Maine.

From Scientific American • May 7, 2022

The darkness of natural as well as of sylvan dusk gathered over me.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë