Glade

Etymology

Of uncertain origin, but often connected to "glad" in its older sense of "bright, shining" — a glade being a place where light breaks into the wood. The link is plausible but not proven.

noun · /GLAYD/
An open, grassy clearing within a forest.
What it names
The sunlit gap in the woods — the bright pocket where the canopy opens.
Example
They stopped to rest in a glade where sunlight pooled on the grass.
Related idea
A glade is open and light-filled; a thicket is the opposite — a dense, tangled snarl of undergrowth.