Nymph

  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Nymph

Definitions: Nymph

Nymph

Noun

1. (classical mythology) a minor nature goddess usually depicted as a beautiful maiden; "the ancient Greeks believed that nymphs inhabited forests and bodies of water".

2. A larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the dragonfly or mayfly).

3. A voluptuously beautiful young woman.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "nymph" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Etymology: Nymph \Nymph\, noun. [Latin expression nympha nymph, bride, young woman: compare to the French expression nymphe. Compare to Nuptial.]. (Websters 1913)


Specialty Definitions: Nymph

DomainDefinitions

Dream Interpretation

To see nymphs bathing in clear water, denotes that passionate desires will find an ecstatic realization. Convivial entertainments will enchant you.
To see them out of their sphere, denotes disappointment with the world.
For a young woman to see them bathing, denotes that she will have great favor and pleasure, but they will not rest strictly within the moral code. To dream that she impersonates a nymph, is a sign that she is using her attractions for selfish purposes, and thus the undoing of men. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted ....

Health

The immature stage in the life cycle of those orders of insects characterized by gradual metamorphosis, in which the young resemble the imago in general form of body, including compound eyes and external wings; also the 8-legged stage of mites and ticks that follows the first moult. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Specialty Definition: Nymph

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

''For the use of the term "nymph" in biology, see nymph (biology). For the sexual disorder, See nymphomaniac

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature spirits, sometimes bound to a particular location or landform. Nymphs often accompanied various gods and goddesses, and were the frequent target of lusty satyrs.

They are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature. The Greek word νύμφη has "bride" and "veiled" among its meanings: hence, a married woman, and, in general, one of marriageable age. Others refer the word (and also Latin nubere and German Knospe) to a root expressing the idea of "swelling" (according to Hesychius, one of the meanings of νύμφη is "rose-bud"). The home of the nymphs is on mountains and in groves, by springs and rivers, in valleys and cool grottoes. They are frequently associated with the superior divinities, the huntress Artemis, the prophetic Apollo, the reveller and god of trees Dionysus, and with rustic gods such as Pan and Hermes (as the god of shepherds).

Nymph classifications

The different species of nymph were distinguished according to the different spheres of nature with which they were connected.

Foreign adaptations

The Greek nymphs, after the introduction of their cult into Latium, gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna, Egeria, Cavmentis, Fons), while the Lymphae (originally Lumpae), Italian water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of name, were identified with the Greek Nymphae. Among the Romanss their sphere of influence was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element.

See also Askefruer, Huacas and Landvaettir, and houri.

from a 1911 encyclopedia

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Nymph."

Top     

Synonym: Nymph

Synonym: houri (n). (additional references)

Top     

Synonyms within Context: Nymph

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Infant

Child, bairn, little one, brat, chit, pickaninny, urchin; bantling, bratling; elf. youth, boy, lad, stripling, youngster, youngun, younker, callant, whipster, whippersnapper, whiffet, schoolboy, hobbledehoy, hopeful, cadet, minor, master. scion; sap, seedling; tendril, olive branch, nestling, chicken, larva, chrysalis, tadpole, whelp, cub, pullet, fry, callow; codlin,codling; foetus, calf, colt, pup, foal, kitten; lamb, lambkin; aurelia, caterpillar, cocoon, nymph, nympha, orphan, pupa, staddle.

Jupiter

Allah, Bathala, Brahm, Brahma, Brahma, cloud-compeller, Devi, Durga, Kali, oread, the Great Spirit, Ushas; water nymph, wood nymph; Yama, Varuna, Zeus; Vishnu, Siva, Shiva, Krishna, Juggernath, Buddha; Isis, Osiris, Ra; Belus, Bel, Baal, Asteroth; Thor, Odin; Mumbo Jumbo; good genius, tutelary genius; demiurge, familiar; sibyl; fairy, fay; sylph, sylphid; Ariel, peri, nymph, nereid, dryad, seamaid, banshee, benshie, Ormuzd; Oberon, Mab, hamadryad, naiad, mermaid, kelpie, Ondine, nixie, sprite; denizens of the air; pixy; (bad spirit).

Ocean

Hydrography, hydrographer; Neptune, Poseidon, Thetis, Triton, Naiad, Nereid; sea nymph, Siren; trident, dolphin.

Woman

Nymph, wench, grisette; girl. (youth).

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Top     

Crosswords: Nymph

English words defined with "nymph": calypsodaphne, dryadechohamadryad, Hermaphroditus, heterometabolic, heterometabolous, HydriadLimoniadnaiad, Nympha, Nymphal, NymphlyOceanidSalmacis, Scylla, sea nymph, Sea-maid, SirenTree nymph, trombiculiidwater nymph, Wood nymphZygenid. (references)
Specialty definitions using "nymph": Alpheos and Arethu saBritomartisCalisto and Arcas, Canens, ComusGogmagog Hill, GossypiaNymph, NymphasPururavas and UrvasiSaliens. (references)
Etymologies containing "nymph": nympha, Nymphean, Nympholepsy. (references)

Top     

Modern Usage: Nymph

DomainUsage

Movie/TV Titles

The Sea Nymph (1973)

Diary of a Nymph (1971)

Afternoon of a Nymph (1962)

The Snow Peak Nymph (1960)

A Nymph of the Foothills (1918)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Commercial Usage: Nymph

DomainTitle

Books

  

Theater & Movies

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Image Slideshow: Nymph

Photos:
Nymph

More images...

Illustrations:
Nymph

More images...

Computer Images:
Nymph

More images...

Top     

Photo Album: Nymph

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

Nymph of head louse, Pediculus humanus var capitis, about to emerge from egg. Note missing egg cap. Parasite.Credit: CDC.

A quarter-inch-long parasitic wasp, Peristenus digoneutis, prepares to lay an egg in a tarnished plant bug nymph. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..

Nymph.Credit: Library of Congress.

Nymph.Credit: Library of Congress.

Nymph, Larchmont.Credit: Library of Congress.

Nymph.Credit: Library of Congress.

The listening nymph.Credit: Library of Congress.

Nymph.Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Familiar Quotations: Nymph

AuthorQuotation

Iris Murdoch

Every man needs two women, a quiet home-maker, and a thrilling nymph.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Top     

Non-Fiction Usage: Nymph

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

To live, the nymph must feed on blood. (references)

The diagnosis of pediculosis is best made by finding a live nymph or adult louse on the scalp or in the hair of a person. (references)

The bacteria remain in a tick as it changes from larva to nymph or from nymph to adult in late summer or early fall. Infected nymphs bite and transmit B. burgdorferi bacteria to other small rodents, mammals, and humans, all in the course of their normal feeding behavior. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Top     

Usage Frequency: Nymph

"Nymph" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.67% of the time. "Nymph" is used about 75 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)98.67%7438,813
Noun (common)1.33%1339,140
                    Total100.00%75N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Top     

Expressions: Nymph

Expressions using "nymph": albanian nymph sea nymph Tree nymph water nymph wood nymph. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "nymph": nymph-ravaging.

Ending with "nymph": ex-nymph, fountain-nymph, river-nymph, sea-nymph, water-nymph.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Nymph

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
  ExpressionFrequency
per Day

  nymph

661

  little nymph

13

  sea nymph boat

107

  b b mode nymph

12

  sea nymph

104

  mythological nymph water

12

  nymph singing

89

  nymph fishing

11

  nurgles nymph

85

  mayfly nymph

11

  water nymph

41

  nymph ukrainian

10

  nude nymph

40

  greek nymph

10

  wood nymph

32

  nymph and satyr

10

  dragonfly nymph

32

  girl nymph

9

  bbs nymph

31

  aluminum boat nymph sea

9

  picture of a nymph

29

  mountain nymph

9

  myth nymph

25

  nymph sex

9

  nymph young

25

  damselfly nymph

8

  nurgle nymph

24

  nymph pic

8

  nymph teen

24

  lo nymph planet

8

  boat nymph sale sea

21

  stonefly nymph

8

  nymph preteen

17

  fairy nymph

8

  naughty nymph

15

  nymph art

8

  naked nymph

15

  nymph reply shepherd

8

  nymph russian

15

  nymph ring web

7
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top     

Modern Translations: Nymph

Language Translations for "nymph"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

nimfë (nixie), vajzë tërheqëse. (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏فتاة (babe, baby, bird, bud, filly, gill, girl, lass, maid, pigeon, wench, young woman), ‏حورية (houri, pixy), ‏الحوراء. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

какавида (chrysalis, cocoon, pupa), нимфа. (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

若虫, 女神 (goddess). (various references)

   

Czech

  

nymfa, víla (fairy, sprite). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

nimf (nymphs), pop (doll, puppet). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

nimfo. (various references)

   

Faeroese

  

dís (muse). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

حوری , زن بسیارزیبا. (various references)

   

Finnish

  

luonnotar. (various references)

   

French

  

nymphe. (various references)

   

German

  

Nymphe (Nympha, sylph). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

νύμφη (bride, pupa), νεράιδα (brownie, fairy, mermaid, naiad, nereid, pixy, sylph, water nymph), χρυσαλλίδα (chrysalis, pupa). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

בתולת הים (mermaid, naiad, siren), בת גלים (mermaid), סירונית (mermaid). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

nimfa, fiatal lány (bit of stuff, flapper, maid, quean, rabbit, wench, young girl). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

peri (faerie, faery), kepompong (chrysalis, cocoon, pupa), bidadari (angel, beautiful woman, fairy, sylph). (various references)

   

Italian

  

ninfa (chrysalides, chrysalis, nymphs, pupa). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

ニンヒドリン反応 (ninhydrin reaction, nymphomania), 仙女 (elf, fairy). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

ニンフ , せんにゅ (elf, fairy), せんにょ (elf, fairy), せんじょ (cutout, cutting off, elf, fairy). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

님프. (various references)

   

Manx

  

nymphagh. (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

ymphnay

   

Portuguese

  

ninfa (case worm, Daphne, pupa, siren), fio de náilon, crisálida (case worm, chrysalis, pupa). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

nimfã (case worm, nympha), fatã tânãrã şi frumoasã. (various references)

   

Russian 

  

нимфа. (various references)

   

Scottish

  

rìghinn (young lady). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

nimfa. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

ninfa (chrysalides, chrysalis, nymphs, pupa). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

nymf. (various references)

   

Thai

  

นางไม้ (ซึ่งสิงสถิตย์อยู่ตามริมแม่น้ำ ต้นไม้ ภูเขา ในเทพนิยายโบราณ). (various references)

   

Turkish

  

nimfa, yenilebilir bir kurbağa, su perisi (naiad, nereid, Nix, nixie, undine, waterman), perí, orman perisi (dryad, wood nymph), güzel kız (a smasher of a girl, beautiful girl, beauty, dish, doll, eyefull, juicy girl, pretty girl, rose, smasher, sylph). (various references)

   

Ukranian 

  

струмок (arroyo, bourn, dribble, effluent, nullah, rivulet, streamlet, wash, watercourse, wellspring), річка (arroyo, nullah, river, stream), вродлива дівчина (rosebud), німфа, лялечка (case worm, chrysalis, dolly bird, dolly-girl, pupa), личинка (grub, larva, maggot, slug). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Top     

Ancestral Language Translations: Nymph

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Greek700 BCE-300 CE

nymphe. (various references)

Latin500 BCE-Modern

nympha, nympham. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Top     

Derivations & Misspellings: Nymph

Derivations

Words beginning with "nymph": nympha, nymphae, nymphal, nymphalid, nymphalids, nymphean, nymphet, nymphets, nymphette, nymphettes, nympho, nympholepsies, nympholepsy, nympholept, nympholeptic, nympholepts, nymphomania, nymphomaniac, nymphomaniacal, nymphomaniacs, nymphomanias, nymphos, nymphs. (additional references)

Words ending with "nymph": paranymph. (additional references)

Words containing "nymph": paranymphs. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Nymph" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: enybpg, Namzha, nemph, neph, nimh, Nimipu, Nimph, nmp, nylph, nymp, Nympha, nymphae, nymphe, nympho, nympth, nyp, Nypl, nypo, Nyup, symph. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Top     

Rhyming with "Nymph"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "nymph" (pronounced ni"mf)
3-i" m flymph.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Top     

Anagrams: Nymph

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "h-m-n-p-y"

-1 letter: hymn.

-2 letters: hyp.

-3 letters: hm, my.

 Words containing the letters "h-m-n-p-y"
 

+1 letter: nympha, nympho, nymphs.

 

+2 letters: nymphae, nymphal, nymphet, nymphos.

 

+3 letters: nymphean, nymphets, symphony.

 

+4 letters: cymophane, endolymph, homophony, hypnotism, hypomania, hypomanic, monophagy, monophony, monophyly, nymphalid, nymphette, paranymph, sympathin, symphonic, taphonomy.

 

+5 letters: cymophanes, endolymphs, endomorphy, hypanthium, hypermania, hypermanic, hypnotisms, hypolimnia, hypomanias, lymphokine, nomography, nymphalids, nymphettes, nympholept, paranymphs, parenchyma, sympathins, symphonies, symphonist.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Top     

Alternative Orthography: Nymph


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

4E 79 6D 70 68

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

=

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

-.    -.--.    --    .--.    ....

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Top     

 

Bibliographic Items: "nymph"


Top     

Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "nymph"

Top     

Public Service or Web Sites Triggered by: Nymph