nymph

1 a mythical goddess represented as a young girl and said to live outdoors she bought the book of fairy tales for the beautiful engravings of nymphs and fairies featured between the stories Synonyms dryad, hamadryad, naiad, oread, wood nymph Related Words mermaid, Nereid, Oceanid, sea-maid (or sea-maiden), siren, water nymph

2 a young wingless often wormlike form (as a grub or caterpillar) that hatches from the egg of many insects mayfly nymphs Synonyms naiad, larvaRelated Words pupa

3 a female person who has not yet reached adulthood the neighborhood nymphs were gathered at the local pizza parlor, checking out the hot guys Synonyms filly, lass, lassie, miss, missy, girl, sheila [Australian & New Zealand]Related Words bobby-soxer, junior miss, schoolgirl, subdebutante, teenybopper; gamine, hoyden, pixie (also pixy), romp, snip, tomboy