Why “faunish” is a great word
Resembling or characteristic of a faun, especially in being graceful, playful, or having a quality of rustic, mythological sensuality. From the English noun faun (a mythological creature, from Latin Faunus, a god of the wild) + the suffix -ish (having the qualities of). Unlike "sylvan," which pertains generally to woods and forests, lacking the specific mythological and half-human, half-animal connotations, or "satyr-like," which implies a more overtly lustful and bawdy character, faunish suggests a more innocent, pastoral nature. It is the tilt of a head that seems to hear pipes no one else can hear, the flicker of a shadow between sun-dappled oaks that seems to have hooves, and the unselfconscious, agile leap of a dancer that momentarily recalls a creature of the grove—a fleeting, ancient grace caught in the tender ambiguity between creature and companion.