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): /ˌænθしーたɹəpəˈmɔɹfɪzəm/

• 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 beings.

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: 擬人ぎじん論ろん／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: 擬人ぎじん化か (ja) (gijinka), 擬人ぎじん観かん (gijinkan)
• Kazakh: антропоморфизм (antropomorfizm)
• Korean: 의인화(擬人ぎじん化か) (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: αあるふぁнтропоморфи́зм (αあるふぁntropomorfízm)
• 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