As a noun, sylvan means a being that inhabits the woods. The Roman god of woods and fields was known as Silvanus, sometimes also known as the half-man, half-goat sylvan called Pan. Shakespeare’s character Puck, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," seems based on a sylvan, and other authors used the image as well. The adjectival use of the Middle French word sylvain evolved in the mid-16th century. The word is most often used today to describe an idyllic wooded area.