anthropomorphism

English

Etymology

Coined in the mid-1700s. From Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos, “man, human”) and μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌænθɹəpəˈmɔɹfɪzəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

anthropomorphism (countable and uncountable, plural anthropomorphisms)

1. The attribution of human characteristics and behavior to something not human. [from mid-18th c.]
2. (theology) The attribution of human characteristics to divine entities.

Usage notes

Despite the similarity in meaning, this term carries very different connotations when used in different contexts. In literature, anthropomorphism describes merely a device of fiction writing, whereas in science (particularly biology) anthropomorphism has traditionally been used pejoratively when a scientist appears to be attributing to animals characteristics that are assumed to be exclusive to human beings.

Antonyms

• dehumanization

Coordinate terms

• humanization
• personification
• prosopopoeia

Derived terms

• anthropomorphist
• antianthropomorphism

 

Related terms

• anthropomorphic
• anthropomorphically

Translations

the attribution or ascription of human characteristics to something not human

• Afrikaans: antropomorfisme
• Albanian: antropomorfizëm m
• Arabic: تَجْسِيم m (tajsīm)
• Armenian: անթրոպոմորֆիզմ (hy) (antʻropomorfizm)
• Azerbaijani: antropomorfizm
• Basque: antropomorfismo
• Belarusian: антрапамарфі́зм m (antrapamarfízm)
• Breton: denheñvelegezh f
• Bulgarian: антропоморфизъм m (antropomorfizǎm)
• Catalan: antropomorfisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 擬人論／拟人论 (nǐrénlùn)

• Czech: antropomorfismus (cs) m
• Danish: antropomorfisme (da) c
• Dutch: antropomorfisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: antropomorfismo
• Estonian: antropomorfism
• Finnish: antropomorfismi (fi), ihmisenkaltaistaminen
• French: anthropomorphisme (fr) m
• Galician: antropomorfismo (gl) m
• Georgian: ანთროპომორფიზმი (antroṗomorpizmi)
• German: Anthropomorphismus (de) m

  Alemannic German: Anthropomorfismus m

• Greek: ανθρωπομορφισμός (el) m (anthropomorfismós)
• Hebrew: האנשה (he) f (ha'anasha)
• Hungarian: antropomorfizmus (hu)
• Icelandic: manngervastefna f
• Ido: antropomorfismo (io)
• Indonesian: antropomorfisme (id)
• Interlingua: anthropomorphismo
• Irish: antrapamorfachas m
• Italian: antropomorfismo (it) m
• Japanese: 擬人化 (ja) (gijinka), 擬人観 (gijinkan)
• Kazakh: антропоморфизм (antropomorfizm)
• Korean: 의인화(擬人化) (ko) (uiinhwa)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: antropomorfîzm (ku)

• Kyrgyz: антропоморфизм (antropomorfizm)
• Latvian: antropomorfisms m
• Limburgish: antropomorfisme
• Lithuanian: antropomorfizmas m
• Luxembourgish: Anthropomorphismus m
• Malay: antropomorfisme
• Manx: antrapoamorfaght f
• Mongolian: антропоморфизм (antropomorfizm)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: antropomorfisme (no) m

  Nynorsk: antropomorfisme m

• Occitan: antropomorfisme m
• Persian: انسان‌انگاری (fa)
• Polish: antropomorfizm (pl) m, antropomorfizacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: antropomorfismo (pt) m
• Romanian: antropomorfism (ro) n
• Russian: антропоморфи́зм (ru) m (antropomorfízm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: антропоморфѝзам m

  Roman: antropomorfìzam (sh) m

• Slovak: antropomorfizmus m
• Slovene: antropomorfizem m
• Spanish: antropomorfismo (es) m
• Swahili: tashihisi
• Swedish: antropomorfism (sv) c
• Tajik: αнтропоморфи́зм (αntropomorfízm)
• Tamil: மாந்தவுருவகம் (māntavuruvakam)
• Thai: มานุษยรูปนิยม (maa-nút'y rôop ní-yom)
• Turkish: insan biçimcilik (tr)
• Ukrainian: антропоморфізм (uk) m (antropomorfizm)
• Uzbek: antropomorfizm
• Vietnamese: nhân hóa (vi)

See also

• zoomorphism
• kemonomimi
• nahualism

Further reading

• anthropomorphism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia