Nymph
noun, verb
noun, verb ·1 syllable ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any female nature spirit associated with water, forests, grotto, wind, etc. Greek, Roman
- 2 a larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the dragonfly or mayfly) wordnet
- 3 A young girl, especially one who is attractive, beautiful or graceful.
- 4 (classical mythology) a minor nature goddess usually depicted as a beautiful maiden wordnet
- 5 The larva of certain insects.
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- 6 a voluptuously beautiful young woman wordnet
- 7 Any of various butterflies of the family Nymphalidae.
Verb
- 1 To fish using a nymph larva as bait.
"Kuster meanwhile nymphed the middle of the Snag. When I joined him, I threw my streamer between the main channel's flow and the skinnier side-channel flow, […]"
Example
More examples"Tom is a centaur and Mary is a nymph."
Etymology
From Middle English nimphe, from Old English nymphē and Old French nimphe, both from Latin nympha (“nymph, bride”), from Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē, “bride”). Doublet of nympha.
Related phrases
More for "nymph"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.