sylvan

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈsɪlvən/ UK /ˈsɪl.vən/ See IPA manual

Freq #57153

Meanings

1

adj
relating to or characteristic of wooded regions

A shady sylvan glade.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · relating to or... silvan

More wooded campestral woodsy woody

Word family

Derived forms anthrosylvansylvanitesylvanshine

Related forms arborealnemorouspennsylvaniapittsylvaniasavagesilassilvasilvanussilviasilvicoloussilviculturalsilviculture

Common collocations

sylvan glade Adjective + noun

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin sylvanus, possibly via Middle French sylvain, from Latin silvanus, cognate with Latin Silvānus (“Roman god of the woods”), from silva (“forest”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). The ⟨y⟩ in sylvanus and its descendants is due to influence from Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē, “wood, matter”), transliterated in the Latin style as hyle. Analysable as sylva (“silva”) + -an.

*swel- Proto-Indo-European sylvanus la-med sylvain Middle French silvanus Latin Silvānus Latin *sel- Proto-Indo-European ῡ̔́λη Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# sylvan

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɪlvən/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɪl.vən/
**Frequency rank:** 57153

## Meanings
1. relating to or characteristic of wooded regions

## Examples
- A shady sylvan glade.

## Synonyms
- silvan
- wooded
- campestral
- woodsy
- woody

## Derived Forms
- anthrosylvan
- sylvanite
- sylvanshine

## Related Forms
- arboreal
- nemorous
- pennsylvania
- pittsylvania
- savage
- silas
- silva
- silvanus
- silvia
- silvicolous
- silvicultural
- silviculture

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *swel-
- Root: sylvanus
- Root: sylvain
- Root: silvanus
- Root: Silvānus
- Root: *sel-
- Root: ῡ̔́λη

## Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin sylvanus, possibly via Middle French sylvain, from Latin silvanus, cognate with Latin Silvānus (“Roman god of the woods”), from silva (“forest”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). The ⟨y⟩ in sylvanus and its descendants is due to influence from Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē, “wood, matter”), transliterated in the Latin style as hyle. Analysable as sylva (“silva”) + -an.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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