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/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

anthropomorphism (countable and uncountable, plural anthropomorphisms)

The attribution of human characteristics and behavior to something not human. [from mid-18th c.]
(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

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 (antropomorfizm)
Korean: 의인화(擬人化) (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: 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)