pareidolia

pareidolia

English

WOTD – 17 February 2011

The so-called “Face on Mars”: an example of pareidolia based on a 1976 photograph of an area of Martian topography

A more detailed photograph taken in different lighting in 2001 destroys the pareidolic impression

Etymology

Borrowed from German Pareidolie, constructed from Ancient Greek παρα- (para-, “alongside”) + εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “image”) + -ία (-ía).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpæɹ.aɪˈdəʊ.li.ə/
• (General American)
  • (Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /ˌpæɹ.iˈdoʊ.li.ə/, /ˌpæɹ.aɪˈdoʊ.li.ə/
  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˌpɛɹ.iˈdoʊ.li.ə/, /ˌpɛɹ.aɪˈdoʊ.li.ə/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊliə
• Hyphenation: par‧ei‧do‧lia

Noun

pareidolia (countable and uncountable, plural pareidolias)

1. (psychology) The tendency to interpret a vague stimulus as something known to the observer, such as interpreting marks on Mars as canals, seeing shapes in clouds, or hearing hidden messages in music.

   Hypernym: apophenia

   • 1868 July, John Sibbald, The British Journal of Psychiatry, volume 13, page 238:

     This last is called by Dr. Kahlbaum, changing hallucination, partial hallucination, perception of secondary images, or pareidolia.

   • 1993, Raymond Moody; Paul Perry, Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 13:

     Pareidolia underlies several forms of divination.

   • 2006, Steve W. Martin, “Choosing Your Battles”, in Heavy Hitter Selling: How Successful Salespeople Use Language and Intuition to Persuade Customers to Buy, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 150:

     Pareidolias aren't solely limited to images. When I was a youngster, I remember listening to The Beatles' song "Strawberry Fields" over and over to hear what seemed to be "I buried Paul."

   • 2010, Rick Emmer, “Nessies of the New World”, in Loch Ness Monster: Fact or Fiction? (Creature Scene Investigation), New York, N.Y.: Chelsea House Publishers, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 81:

     Pareidolia is a state of mind where a vague or unclear image is perceived to be something recognizable, regardless of whether it's something you expect to see. The most famous example of pareidolia is the familiar face of the Man in the Moon.

Derived terms

• pareidolic

Translations

tendency to interpret vague stimuli as something familiar

Arabic: بَارِيدُولِيَا‎ f (bārīdūliyā) Chinese: Mandarin: 空想性錯視／空想性错视 (kōngxiǎngxìng cuòshì) Dutch: pareidolie (nl) f Finnish: pareidolia French: paréidolie (fr) f German: Pareidolie (de) f Greek: παρειδωλία (el) f (pareidolía) Hungarian: pareidolia Italian: pareidolia f Macedonian: пареидо́лија f (pareidólija) Polish: pareidolia (pl) f Portuguese: pareidolia f Romanian: pareidolie f Russian: парейдоли́я (ru) f (parejdolíja) Spanish: pareidolia (es) f Swedish: pareidoli c Turkish: pareidolia

Further reading

• pareidolia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Paul McFedries (2 March 2004), “pareidolia”, in Word Spy, Logophilia Limited, retrieved 4 June 2017.
• “pareidolia” in The Skeptic’s Dictionary

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Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek παρα- (para-) + εἴδωλον (eídōlon).

Noun

pareidolia f (plural pareidolie)

1. pareidolia

Derived terms

• pareidolitico

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Polish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek παρα- (para-, “alongside”) + εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “image”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.rɛ.iˈdɔ.lja/
• Rhymes: -ɔlja
• Syllabification: pa‧re‧i‧do‧lia

Noun

pareidolia f

1. pareidolia (tendency to interpret vague stimuli as something familiar)

Declension

Declension of pareidolia

	singular
nominative	pareidolia
genitive	pareidolii
dative	pareidolii
accusative	pareidolię
instrumental	pareidolią
locative	pareidolii
vocative	pareidolio

Further reading

• pareidolia in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• pareidolia in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Portuguese

Noun

pareidolia f (plural pareidolias)

1. pareidolia (tendency to interpret vague stimuli as something familiar)