anito

See also: Anito and añito

English

Etymology

From Spanish anito, Tagalog anito, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qanitu, Proto-Austronesian *qaNiCu.

Noun

anito (countable and uncountable, plural anitos)

1. (countable) ancestor spirit in Indigenous Philippine folk religions

   Hyponym: taotao

2. (uncountable) Synonym of anitism (“folk religion of the Philippines”).

Anagrams

• -ation, Aiton, Naito, Otani, Taino, Taíno, Tiano, Tonia

Kankanaey

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔaˈnito/ [ʔʌˈniː.to]
• Rhymes: -ito
• Syllabification: a‧ni‧to

Noun

aníto (plural aanito)

1. spirit, either good or evil
   • 2000 & 2017, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Kalin Diyos‎^[1], Translators Association of the Philippines, Inc., →ISBN, Matthew 12:14:

     Intoloy Jesus ay nangiarig, “Mo komaan di anito ay kinmapet si ipogaw, en manlikliked sin kabatbatoan ay magay danom na ay man-anap si pan-illengana. Et mo magay datngana

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• kaanianito
• man-anito
• manganito

References

• Morice Vanoverbergh (1933), “aníto”, in A Dictionary of Lepanto Igorot or Kankanay. As it is spoken at Bauco (Linguistische Anthropos-Bibliothek; XII)‎^[2], Mödling bei Wien, St. Gabriel, Österreich: Verlag der Internationalen Zeitschrift „Anthropos“, →OCLC, page 32
• Allen, Larry (2021), “aníto”, in Kankanaey – English Dictionary, Summer Institute of Linguistics

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Tagalog anito.

Noun

anito m (plural anitos)

1. anito

Further reading

• “anito”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Tagalog

Etymology 1

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qanitu (cf. Samoan aitu, Malay hantu), from Proto-Austronesian *qaNiCu (cf. Bunun hanitu).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ʔaˈnito/ [ʔɐˈn̪iː.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -ito
• Syllabification: a‧ni‧to

Noun

anito (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜈᜒᜆᜓ)

1. idol; heathen deity; god

   Synonym: diyos-diyosan

2. idolatry; animism

   Synonym: animismo

3. superstitious custom; superstitious practice

   Synonym: pamahiin

4. amulet

Derived terms

• mag-anito
• mang-aanito
• pag-aanito

Related terms

• anitera

Descendants

• → Spanish: anito

See also

• diwata
• engkanto
• anino

Etymology 2

Univerbation of ani +‎ nito.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˌʔaniˈto/ [ˌʔaː.n̪ɪˈt̪o]
• Rhymes: -o
• Syllabification: a‧ni‧to

Adverb

ánitó (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜈᜒᜆᜓ)

1. according to this

Related terms

• anire
• aniyon

Further reading

• “anito”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*qaNiCu”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Anagrams

• Otani

Yami

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qanitu (compare Samoan aitu, Malay hantu, from Proto-Austronesian *qaNiCu (compare Bunun hanitu).

Noun

anito

1. evil spirit