anthropomorphism

English

Etymology

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

Noun

anthropomorphism (plural anthropomorphisms)

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

Usage notes

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.

Translations

the attribution or ascription of human characteristics to animals, inanimate objects, forces of nature, etc

• Catalan: antropomorfisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拟人论 (nǐrénlùn, 擬人論)

• Czech: antropomorfismus (cs) m
• Esperanto: antropomorfismo
• Estonian: antropomorfism
• Finnish: antropomorfismi (fi), ihmisenkaltaistaminen
• French: anthropomorphisme (fr) m
• Galician: antropomorfismo (gl) m
• German: Anthropomorphismus (de) m
• Greek: ανθρωπομορφισμός (el) m (anthropomorfismós)
• Hebrew: האנשה‏‎ (he)
• Hungarian: antropomorfizmus (hu)
• 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)
• Korean: 의인화 (ko) (uiinhwa, 擬人化)
• Norwegian: antropomorfisme (no)
• Occitan: antropomorfisme m
• Polish: antropomorfizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: antropomorfismo (pt) m
• Romanian: antropomorfism (ro) n
• Russian: антропоморфи́зм (ru) m (antropomorfízm)
• Serbo-Croatian: antropomorfizam (sh) m
• Spanish: antropomorfismo (es) m
• Swedish: antropomorfism (sv)
• Turkish: insan biçimcilik (tr)
• Ukrainian: aнтропоморфізм m (antropomorfizm)

Related terms

• anthropomorphic
• anthropomorphically

See also

• anthropomorphism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• prosopopoeia
• zoomorphism
• kemonomimi
• nahualism