Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A generic term for any mythical being which is part human, part animal.
  • noun Someone with an intense spiritual or psychological identification with a non-human animal.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon, "wild beast") and ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos, "man").

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Examples

  • If we have werewolves (or any other sort of lycanthrope, or "therianthrope") in the Alpha Institute (so far, we don't), they will not be furries by another name.

    "So lose some sleep and say you tried." mechangel 2009

  • The lion-man statuette found in Germany is a therianthrope – part human part animal.

    Neuronarrative - Are We Born Believers or Cultural Receivers? A Discussion with Author and Psychologist Bruce Hood William Harryman 2009

  • Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, θηρίον, meaning

    myninjaplease 2010

  • Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, θηρίον, meaning

    myninjaplease 2010

  • Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, θηρίον, meaning

    myninjaplease 2010

  • Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, θηρίον, meaning

    myninjaplease 2010

  • Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, θηρίον, meaning

    myninjaplease Koookiecrumbles 2010

  • Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, θηρίον, meaning

    myninjaplease 2010

  • Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, θηρίον, meaning

    myninjaplease 2010

  • Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. from n. therianthrope and adj. therianthropic, part man and part beast, from the Greek theríon, θηρίον, meaning

    myninjaplease 2010

  • A favorite subject for Çatalhöyük artists was the therianthrope, or a human-animal hybrid.

    Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age Annalee Newitz 2023

Comments

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  • A being that is part animal, part human. The usual meaning of the adjective therianthropic is of a god that is represented as combining animal and human forms. The best known examples are the animal-headed gods of ancient Egypt, such as Bast (with the head of a cat) or Anubis (whose head was that of a jackal). The noun is rarer, but it appeared recently in reports of investigations into ancient cave art. The researchers found that some showed hybrid beings, such as cat-headed humans or men with the heads of antelopes. They argued these are the ancient relatives of such mythical human-animal hybrids as the minotaur (which had a man’s body but a bull’s head), satyr (part human, part goat), and werewolf. In the last of these, the creature exhibits its animal and human aspects serially rather than simultaneously, an extension of the usual definition, though a usage that is common online, and one that has been applied equally to other human-animal transformations. The word combines the Greek therion, wild animal, with anthropos, human being.

    (from World Wide Words)

    May 21, 2008