ephydriad

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐφυδριάς (ephudriás), from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɛˈfɪdɹɪad/

Noun

ephydriad (plural ephydriads)

1. (rare) A dryad, a water nymph.
   • 1832, Leigh Hunt, The Ephydriads:

     'Tis there the Ephydriads haunt;—there, where a gap / Betwixt a heap of tree-tops, hollow and dun, / Shews where the waters run, / And whence the fountain's tongue begins to lap.

   • 1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin, published 2010, page 107:

     in the golden dusty summer [we] tramped down into the verdant valley, even then a haunt of every leafy spirit and the blue-eyed ephydriads, now Nature's slimy wound with spikes of blackened bone […].