tulpa

English

Etymology

From Tibetan སྤྲུལ་པ ‎(sprul pa, “emanation, magical creation”), equivalent to Sanskrit निर्मित ‎(nirmita, “build”) or निर्माण ‎(nirmāṇa, “build”).

Noun

tulpa ‎(plural tulpas or (often in sense 2) tulpae)

1. A magical creature that attains corporeal reality, having been originally merely imaginary.
   • 1966, Nikos Kazantzakis, England: A Travel Journal, page 110

     When the year was up, the tulpa began growing. It lost its fear of its master and began taking on new forms of its own. It ceased to run errands ....

2. A modern type of imaginary friend inspired by traditional tulpa.