woodnymph

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   in classical mythology and later literature, a nymph or female nature spirit inhabiting a forest or tree; a dryad

   The poet imagined a woodnymph singing beneath the ancient oaks.

2. 2
   noun

   a hummingbird of the tropical American genus Thalurania

   A violet-crowned woodnymph hovered beside the flowering shrub.

A compound of wood + nymph. The mythological sense names a nymph associated with woodland or trees; naturalists later applied the evocative name to brilliantly colored hummingbirds of the genus Thalurania. Wood-nymph and wood nymph are established variant spellings.

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