anthropomorphism

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

anthropomorphism (countable and uncountable, plural anthropomorphisms)

1. The attribution of human characteristics and behavior to something 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.

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) (antʿropomorfizm)
• 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 (antropomorfïzm)

• Korean: 의인화 (ko) (uiinhwa) (擬人化 (ko))
• 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
• 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

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