dryad

Etymology

From Old French driade (“wood nymph”), from Latin Dryas, Dryadis, from Ancient Greek Δρυάς (Druás, “dryad”), from δρῦς (drûs, “oak”), from Proto-Indo-European *derew(o)- (“tree, wood”); cf. Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”).

noun

1. (Greek mythology) A female tree spirit.
   Coordinate term: Meliai
   There it had stood for years, close beside a mighty oak, under which sat often the kindly old priest, who told stories to the listening children. The young chestnut tree listened with them: the Dryad inside it, who was still a child, could remember the time when the tree was so small that it only reached a little higher than the ferns and long blades of grass. 1914, Hans Christian Andersen, “//dummy.host/index.php?title=s%3Aen%3AFairy_Tales_and_Other_Stories_%28Andersen%2C_Craigie%29%2FThe_Dryad The Dryad”, in William Alexander Craigie, transl., Fairy tales and other stories
2. mountain avens, dryas