Word of the Day

: January 29, 2018

anthropomorphic

adjective an-thruh-puh-MOR-fik

What It Means

1 : described or thought of as having a human form or human attributes

2 : ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman things

anthropomorphic in Context

"This animated … comedy, about a depressed horse living among other anthropomorphic animals in a version of Hollywood, somehow explores the depth of human emotion in a way that few other shows do." — Bethonie Butler, The Washington Post, 10 Dec. 2017

"The program sees the magical anthropomorphic bear Brigsby doing battle with an evil wizard in the moon while also teaching multiplication." — David Sims, The Atlantic, 28 July 2017

Did You Know?

Anthropomorphic comes from the Late Latin word anthropomorphus, which itself traces to a Greek term birthed from the roots anthrōp- (meaning "human being") and -morphos (-morphous). Those ancient Greek roots have given form and personality to many English words. Anthrōp- relatives include anthropic ("relating to human beings or the period of their existence on earth"), anthropocentric ("interpreting or regarding the world in terms of human values and experiences"), anthropoid ("an ape"), and anthropology ("the study of human beings and their ancestors"). Derivatives of -morphos often end in -morphism, as in polymorphism ("the quality or state of existing in or assuming different forms"), or -morphic, as in biomorphic ("resembling the forms of living organisms").