Royd
noun ·1 syllable ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A forest clearing. Yorkshire, dialectal
"From what has been said it will be obvious that the names of other animals, such as deer, must enter largely into the composition of local names. We may see this in Darlands, sometimes written Dare-lands and Deer Lands, in Ecclesfield, and in the adjacent Doe Royd, a royd being a forest clearing. Deór, a wild beast, but in these names a deer, is also seen in Darton, which is found in Old English as deórtûn (deer-park), and in Darby or Derby. Speed's map of Derby, 1611, contains an emblematic drawing of a deer-park, surrounded by a wooden fence, with a single deer in the middle."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"From what has been said it will be obvious that the names of other animals, such as deer, must enter largely into the composition of local names. We may see this in Darlands, sometimes written Dare-lands and Deer Lands, in Ecclesfield, and in the adjacent Doe Royd, a royd being a forest clearing. Deór, a wild beast, but in these names a deer, is also seen in Darton, which is found in Old English as deórtûn (deer-park), and in Darby or Derby. Speed's map of Derby, 1611, contains an emblematic drawing of a deer-park, surrounded by a wooden fence, with a single deer in the middle."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English *rode (“clearing”), from Old English rodu (“clearing”), from Proto-West Germanic *rodu, variant of *rod, from Proto-Germanic *rudą, from *reudaną (“to clear”). Compare German Rodung, from German roden (“to clear”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.