nymph
noun
Simple meaning
The larva of certain insects.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nimfIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnɪmf
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
entomology
The larva of certain insects.
A voluptuously beautiful young woman
A young girl, especially one who is attractive, beautiful or graceful.
Greek mythologyRoman mythology
Any female nature spirit associated with water, forests, grotto, wind, etc.
A larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the dragonfly or mayfly)
entomology
Any of various butterflies of the family Nymphalidae.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (entomology) The larva of certain insects.
Used this way, nymph is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use nymph
- “The ancient Greeks believed that nymphs inhabited forests and bodies of water.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A water nymph who was the daughter of Oceanus or Nereus.
Submerged aquatic plant having narrow leaves and small flowers.
A deity or nymph of the woods.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.