Meanings
- Germanicpluralplural onlyartsA type of wood spirit that wears a covering of moss, lichen, and leaves.
The wild hunter pursues the moss-folk, the little wood-wives; he remains unseen, but you hear him bluster in the air, that it crickles and crackles.
1882, Jacob Grimm, translated by James Steven Stallybrass, Teutonic Mythology, volume III, London: George Bell and Sons, page 9291 more example
"In the vile," says Dr. Krauss, " also known as Samovile, Samodivi, and Vilivrjaci, we have near relations to the forest and field spirits or the wood and moss-folk of Middle Germany, France and Bavaria the wild people of Hesse, Eifel, Salzburg and the Tyrol, the wood-women and woodmen of Bohemia[.]"
1920, Lewis Spence, An Encyclopædia of Occultism, London: George Routledge and Sons, page 370, column 2Synonyms: moss-people
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA type of wood spirit that wears a covering of moss, lichen, and leaves.
Origin
- GermanMoosleute
- Englishmoss-folk
Calque of German Moosleute.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
moss-folk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moss-folk
“moss-folk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moss-folk. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “moss-folk,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moss-folk.
Source: moss-folk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.