faun [LME] In Roman mythology a faun was a lustful rural deity represented as a man with goat’s horns, ears, legs, and tail. The word comes from the name of Faunus, a god of flocks and herds, who was associated with wooded places. He had a sister, Fauna, whose name in turn gives us fauna, which since the late 18th century has been used to mean ‘the animals of a particular region or period’. Flora [L18th], ‘the plants of a particular region or period’ is the name of Flora, an ancient Italian goddess of fertility and flowers and is also the plural of the Latin for ‘flower’, source also of floral [M18th], floret [L17th], florid [M17th], and florist [E17th]. See also flower.

The identically sounded fawn [ME] meaning ‘a young deer’ comes from Old French faon and is based on Latin fetus ‘offspring’. The word did not mean ‘a light brown colour’ until much later, in the late 19th century. The verb fawn is from Old English fagnian meant ‘make or be glad’. Often used of a dog showing delight by wagging its tail, grovelling, or whining, fawn was then used of humans behaving in a similar way, particularly in order to gain favour.