# animal
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK, US) enPR: ăn'ĭməl, IPA: /ˈæn.ɪ.məl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* (weak vowel merger) IPA: /ˈæn.ə.məl/
* Hyphenation: an‧i‧mal
Picture dictionary :
animal :
* mammalmammal
* fishfish
* amphibianamphibian
* reptilereptile
* birdbird
* insectinsect

### Etymology 1

From Middle English animal, from Old French animal, from Latin animal, a nominal use of an adjective from animale, neuter of animālis, from anima (“breath, spirit”). Displaced native Middle English deor, der (“animal”) (whence modern English deer; from Old English dēor (“animal”)), Middle English reother (“animal, neat”) (whence modern English rother; from Old English hrīþer, hrȳþer (“neat, ox”)).

#### Noun

animal (plural animals)
* (sciences) Any eukaryote of the clade Animalia; a multicellular organism that is usually mobile, whose cells are not encased in a rigid cell wall (distinguishing it from plants and fungi) and which derives energy solely from the consumption of other organisms(distinguishing it from plants).
    Synonym: creature
    Hyponyms: human, person
    Humans, like other animals, need air to breathe and food to eat.
** 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 133:It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.
* (loosely) Any member of the kingdom Animalia other than a human.
    Synonym: beast
    Coordinate terms: human, person
* (loosely) A higher animal; an animal related to humans.
    When he's hungry my toddler opens his mouth like an animal instead of asking us to feed him.
** (colloquial) A tetrapod; a land-dwelling nonhuman vertebrate.
*** 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
** A warm-blooded animal; a mammal or bird.
** A non-human mammal.
*** 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 54:Birds are as popular as animals in the toy kingdom, especially pigeons, owls and domestic hens.
    I spent my summer studying the animals and birds of the two islands.
* (figuratively) A person who behaves wildly; a bestial, brutal, brutish, cruel, or inhuman person.
    Synonyms: brute, monster, savage
    My students are animals.
** 2019, “Bad Guy”, Finneas O'Connell, Billie Eilish O'Connell (lyrics), performed by Billie Eilish:Own me, I'll let you play the role I'll be your animal
** 2024 July 14, Rachel Hall, quoting Jodie White, “‘I’ve never seen owt like it’: England fans in Benidorm in high spirits before Euro final”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:She speculated that things could deteriorate later: “I think they’re scared of the English, which is fair; we are animals.”
* (informal) A person of a particular type specified by an adjective.
    He's a political animal.
* (informal) Matter, thing.
    a whole different animal
    no such animal

##### Hyponyms

* See also Thesaurus:animal

##### Derived terms

* advice animal
* ambassador animal
* animal activist
* animal-assisted therapy
* animal black
* animal cabinet
* animal charcoal
* animal companion
* animal control officer
* animal cracker
* animal dentistry
* animal dye
* animalesque
* animal experimentation
* animal fat
* animal feed
* animal flower
* animal food
* animal fries
* animal heat
* animalhood
* animal house
* animal husbandry
* animalian
* animalicide
* animalish
* animalism
* animalist
* animalistic
* animalivore
* animalivorous
* animalkind
* animal kingdom
* animal liberation
* animal-like
* animally
* animal magnetism
* animaloid
* animal product
* animal protein factor
* animal registry
* animal reminder disgust
* animal rights
* animal sanctuary
* animal science
* animal shelter
* animal tester
* animal testing
* animal welfare
* animal welfarist
* anipal
* antianimal
* assistance animal
* balloon animal
* companimal
* companion animal
* compound animal
* draft animal
* draught animal
* eat like an animal
* emotional support animal
* farm animal
* funny animal
* go the entire animal
* intensive animal farming
* interanimal
* intraanimal
* koranimal
* manimal
* microanimal
* moss animal
* multianimal
* nonanimal
* pack animal
* party animal
* planimal
* plant-animal
* plush animal
* political animal
* power animal
* rare animal
* scape-animal
* service animal
* Set animal
* small animal
* spirit animal
* stock animal
* stuffed animal
* therapy animal
* Typhonian animal
* Typhonic animal
* wereanimal
* wheel animal
* wild animal
* working animal
* zoo animal

##### Related terms

* anima
* animalcule
* Animalia
* animalier
* animate
* animus

##### Descendants

* Bislama: anamol
* Tok Pisin: animal
* → Esperanto: animalo
* → Ido: animalo
* → Volapük: nim

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English animal, from Latin animālis, from either anima (“breath, spirit”) or animus. Originally distinct from the noun, it became associated with attributive use of the noun and is now indistinguishable from it.

#### Adjective

animal (not comparable)
* Of or relating to animals.
    Synonyms: beastly, bestial
    Coordinate term: vegetal
    animal instincts
** 1783 June 3, William Cowper, “To the Rev. William Bull”, in Private Correspondence of William Cowper, Esq. with Several of His Most Intimate Friends. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Colburn, […], and Simpkin and Marshall, […], published 1824, page 266:The season has been most unfavourable to animal life; and I, who am merely animal, have suffered much by it.
** 1809, William Martin, Outlines of an Attempt to Establish a Knowledge of Extraneous Fossils, on Scientific Principles. […], Macclesfield, Cheshire: […] J. Wilson. Sold by the Author, […]; J. White, […], and Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], page 141:[…]—according to Sanssure, Abbé Fortis, Bruckenman, Jameson, Dr. Richardson, &c. &c. both animal and vegetal remains have been detected in Basalt and Wacke.
** 1890, [Lena,] Lady Login, “Lucknow”, in Sir John Login and Duleep Singh, London: W. H. Allen & Co., […], page 78:The body was covered with soft hair, and though undoubtedly human, it was very animal in its instincts and ways.
** 1918, W[ilhelm] Max Müller, “[Egyptian Mythology] Worship of Animals and Men”, in Louis Herbert Gray, George Foot Moore, editors, The Mythology of All Races […], volume XII (Egyptian; Indo-Chinese), Boston, Mass.: Marshall Jones Company, page 167:The unsatisfactory material at our command, however, renders it difficult to determine why we cannot prove a worship of a living incarnation for every deity who is represented on the monuments in a form either wholly or partially animal. We must wonder why, for example, the sacred hawk or hawks of Horus at Edfu (who never has human form) are scarcely mentioned.
** 1913–1921, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”, in England My England and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, published 24 October 1922, →OCLC, page 243:He looked down at the tangled wet hair, the wild, bare, animal shoulders.
** 2012, Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis, New York, N.Y.: The Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 216:I thought: if pain is the thing shared by all living creatures, then I’m no longer human or animal or vegetal; I am unplugged from the tick of metabolism; I am mineral.
** 2015 August, Joseph M. Luguya, “Part 1: The Demented Scholar”, in Humans: The Untold Story of Adam and Eve and their Descendants, volume one (The Thesis), Silver Spring, Md.: Original Books, →ISBN, page 46:In any case, the argument the inhabitants of these parts would have advanced as their strongest one against the so-called chastity belt would, of course, have been that living species, whether animal or vegetative, were made the way they were for an obvious reason.
* Raw, base, unhindered by social codes.
    Synonyms: animalistic, beastly, bestial, untamed, wild
    animal passions
* Pertaining to the spirit or soul; relating to sensation or innervation.
** 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Penguin, published 2004, page 47:To explain what activated the flesh, ‘animal spirits’ were posited, superfine fluids which shuttled between the mind and the vitals, conveying messages and motion.
* (slang, Ireland) Excellent.

##### Derived terms

* animal-industrial complex
* animalize
* animally
* animalness
* animal pole
* animal spirits
* humanimal
* nonanimal
* semianimal
* superanimal
* vegetoanimal

##### Translations
### See also

* Wiktionary appendix of terms relating to animals

### Further reading

* “animal”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* animal in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “animal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* animal in Britannica Dictionary
* animal in Ozdic collocation dictionary
* animal in WordReference English Collocations

### Anagrams

* maalin, Almain, lamian, aminal, Manila, lamina, al-Amin, Milana, Alamin, almain, Malian, manila

## Asturian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin animal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aniˈmal/ [a.niˈmal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: a‧ni‧mal

### Adjective

animal (epicene, plural animales)
* animal

### Noun

animal m (plural animales)
* animal

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin animal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ə.niˈmal]
* IPA: (Valencia) [a.niˈmal]
* Audio (Valencia):(file)
* Rhymes: -al
* Hyphenation: a‧ni‧mal

### Adjective

animal m or f (masculine and feminine plural animals)
* animal

### Noun

animal m (plural animals)
* animal

#### Derived terms

* animalada
* animalitzar (“to animalize”)

### Further reading

* “animal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “animal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “animal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “animal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Cebuano
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish animal, from Latin animal, a nominal use of an adjective from animale, neuter of animālis, from anima (“breath, spirit”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʔaniˈmal/ [ʔɐ.n̪ɪˈmal̪]
* Hyphenation: a‧ni‧mal

### Noun

animál
* animal
* (derogatory) rascal
    Synonym: banyaga
* (sometimes humurous) a crazy person

### Adjective

animál
* (sometimes humorous) crazy
* contemptible, deserving contempt
* ruthless; without pity or compassion; cruel, pitiless

### Interjection

animál
* (vulgar) used as an expression of disgust, anger, etc.

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin animal. Compare the archaic inherited doublet aumaille and its variant armaille, both from the Latin neuter plural animālia.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.ni.mal/
* (un animal):(file)
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: animale, animales

### Noun

animal m (plural animaux)
* animal
    Synonyms: bête, bestiole

#### Derived terms

* animal de compagnie
* animal domestique
* animalerie
* droits des animaux
* règne animal
* reine des animaux
* roi des animaux

### Adjective

animal (feminine animale, masculine plural animaux, feminine plural animales)
* animal
    Synonym: bestial
    Antonym: végétal

### Further reading

* “animal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* lamina

## Galician
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin animal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aniˈmal/ [a.nĩˈmɑɫ]
* Rhymes: -al
* Hyphenation: a‧ni‧mal

### Adjective

animal m or f (plural animais)
* animal

### Noun

animal m (plural animais)
* animal

## Haitian Creole
### Etymology

From French animal, from Latin animal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.ni.mal/

### Noun

animal
* animal
    Synonym: zannimo

## Ilocano
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish animal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʔaniˈmal/ [ʔɐ.niˈmal]
* Hyphenation: a‧ni‧mal

### Noun

animál
* animal
    Synonym: ayup

## Interlingua
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.niˈmal/

### Noun

animal (plural animales)
* animal

## Kabuverdianu
### Etymology

From Portuguese animal.

### Noun

animal
* beast
* animal

## Kapampangan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish animal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ənɪˈmal/ [ə.nɪˈmäl]
* Hyphenation: a‧ni‧mal

### Noun

animal
* animal
    Synonym: ayup

## Latin
### Etymology

Substantivation of apocopated animāle, nominative neuter singular of animālis (“living”). See -al and compare Russian животное (životnoje, “animal”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈa.ni.mal/, [ˈänɪmäɫ̪]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈa.ni.mal/, [ˈäːnimäl]

### Noun

animal n (genitive animālis); third declension
* animal
* living creature

#### Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

#### Synonyms

* bestia

#### Related terms

* anima
* animō
* animus

#### Descendants

* Aromanian: nãmalj, nãmaljiu
* Corsican: animale
* Dalmatian: animuol, animul
* Franco-Provençal: armalye
* Old French: almaille
** Middle French: almaille
*** French: aumaille, armaille
* Friulian: nemâl
* Italian: animale
** → Maltese: annimal
* Old Galician-Portuguese: almallo
** Galician: almallo
** Portuguese: almalho, alimanha, alimária
* Romagnol: animêl
* Romanian: nămaie
* Sicilian: armali, armalu
* Spanish: alimaña, almaje
* Tarantino: anemale
* Venetan: animal, anemal
Borrowings:
* → Aragonese: animal
* → Asturian: animal
* → Basque: animalia
* → Breton: aneval
* → Catalan: animal
* → Franco-Provençal: animal
* → Friulian: animâl
* → Galician: animal
* → Ido: animalo (also from various others)
* → Interlingua: animal
* → Mirandese: animal
* → Occitan: animal
* → Old French: animal
** Middle French: animal
*** French: animal
**** Haitian Creole: animal
**** → Romanian: animal
** → Middle English: animal, animale
*** English: animal
**** → Cebuano: animal
**** → Esperanto: animalo (also from French)
**** → Tok Pisin: animal
*** Scots: ainimal
** Norman: animâ (France), annima (Jersey)
* → Portuguese: animal
** Kabuverdianu: animal
** Papiamentu: animal
* → Romansch: animal
* → Spanish: animal
* → Welsh: anifail

### References

* “animal”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “animal”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "animal", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* animal in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. animate and inanimate nature: animata (animalia) inanimaque (not inanimata) domestic animals: animalia quae nobiscum degunt (Plin. 8. 40)

## Middle English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aniˈmaːl/, /aˈnimal/

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French animal, from Latin animal.

#### Alternative forms

* animale

#### Noun

animal (plural animales)
* An animal (considered to include humans)

##### Descendants

* English: animal (see there for further descendants)
* Scots: ainimal

##### References

* “animāl, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-01-16.

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin animālis.

#### Alternative forms

* animale, animall, anymal, anymall

#### Adjective

animal
* Related to the soul or spirit of a living being (i.e. sentience or sapience)

##### Descendants

* English: animal

##### References

* “animāl, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-01-16.

## Middle French
### Noun

animal m (plural animaux or animaulx)
* animal
    Synonym: beste

## Papiamentu
### Etymology

From Portuguese animal and Spanish animal.

### Noun

animal
* beast
* animal

## Portuguese

Picture dictionary :
animal :
* mamíferomamífero
* peixepeixe
* anfíbioanfíbio
* réptilréptil
* aveave
* insetoinseto

### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin animal. Doublet of alimária.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /a.niˈmaw/ [a.niˈmaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ɐ.niˈmal/ [ɐ.niˈmaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ɐ.niˈmal/ [ɐ.niˈmaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /ɐ.niˈma.li/
* Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
* Hyphenation: a‧ni‧mal

### Adjective

animal m or f (plural animais, comparable, comparative mais animal, superlative o mais animal or animalíssimo)
* (biology) animal (relating to animals)
** 2000, Julio S. Inglez de Sousa et al., Enciclopédia agrícola brasileira: E-H, Editora da Universidade de São Paulo, page 225:Em anatomia animal o termo é de uso muito comum, […]The term is very commonly used in animal anatomy, […]
* (derogatory, of a person) brute (senseless, unreasoning)
** For quotations using this term, see Citations:animal.
* (Brazil, colloquial) cool; awesome
** 2015, Juliana Rosenthal K., Save the Day, Buqui, page 52:É, tava animal mesmo — Bia mal consegue falar.Yeah, it really was wild — Bia can barely speak.

### Noun

animal m (plural animais)
* (biology) animal (any member of the kingdom Animalia)
** 2020, Petrônio Braz, Léxico dos Gerais, Chiado Books, page 481:Primatas — Animais mamíferos, da ordem Primata, que compreende os macacos, antropóides e o homem.Primates — Mammalian animals, of the order Primata, which comprises monkeys/apes, anthropoids and man.
* (non-scientific usage) animal (an animal other than a human, especially a vertebrate)
** 2007, Daniela Ikawa, Valor humano intrínseco e redistribuição social in 2007, Flávia Piovesan, Daniela Ikawa, Direitos Humanos: Fundamento, Proteção e Implementação, volume 2, Juruá Editora, page 44:
    Separar os dois grupos — humanos e animais requereria, dentro dos limites da teoria relativa à dor e ao sofrimento, […]Separating the two groups — humans and animals would require, within the limits of the theory relating to pain and suffering, […]
    Synonyms: besta, bicho
* (colloquial) twat; idiot; moron
** 1979, Wilson Bacelar de Oliveira, Os meus fantasmas, Editora Comunicação, page 490:Escute aqui, seu animal, então você brigou com o companheiro?Listen up, you dumbass, so you fought with [your] mate?
    Synonyms: idiota, retardado, burro, imbecil, débil mental, besta
* (colloquial) beast (a cruel person)
** 2007, Creso Balduíno, O verso do ser, Editora Revan, page 170:Josuel é um animal repulsivo, uma besta humana.Josuel is a repulsive beast, a human beast.
    Synonym: monstro

#### Derived terms

* animal de criação
* animal de estimação
* animal doméstico
* animal selvagem
* animalizar
* animalzão
* animalzinho

## Romanian
### Alternative forms

* анимал (animal) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

### Etymology

Borrowed from French animal, from Latin animal. Doublet of nămaie.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.niˈmal/
* Audio (female voice):(file)
* Rhymes: -al
* Hyphenation: a‧ni‧mal

### Adjective

animal m or n (feminine singular animală, masculine plural animali, feminine and neuter plural animale)
* animal, animalistic
* brutal

#### Declension
### Adverb

animal
* brutally

### Noun

animal n (plural animale)
* animal

#### Declension
## Romansch
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin animal.

### Noun

animal m (plural animals)
* (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Vallader) animal

#### Synonyms

* (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran) biestg
* (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan) bestga
* (Sursilvan) tier, bestia
* (Puter, Vallader) bes-cha

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin animal. See also alimaña, an inherited doublet.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aniˈmal/ [a.niˈmal]
* Audio (Spain):(file)
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: a‧ni‧mal

### Adjective

animal m or f (masculine and feminine plural animales)
* animal

### Noun

animal m (plural animales)
* animal

#### Derived terms

* animal de carga
* animal de compañía
* animal doméstico
* animal salvaje
* animal terrestre
* animalada
* animalero
* animalesco
* animalillo
* animalismo
* animalista
* animalístico
* animalito
* animalizar
* animalmente
* animalucho
* derechos de los animales
* protectora de animales

#### Related terms

* animálculo
* animalidad

### Further reading

* “animal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

### Anagrams

* lámina
* lamina

## Tagalog
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish animal, from Latin animal.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Tagalog) IPA: /ʔaniˈmal/ [ʔɐ.n̪ɪˈmal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: a‧ni‧mal

### Noun

animál (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜈᜒᜋᜎ᜔)
* beast; brute; creature
    Synonyms: halimaw, hayop
* (derogatory) brutish person; inhuman person
    Synonyms: hayop, bruto, bestiya

#### Derived terms

* kaanimalan
* pagkaanimal

### Anagrams

* alamin, Manila

## Tok Pisin
### Etymology

From English animal.

### Noun

animal
* animal (any member of the kingdom Animalia that is not a human)
    Synonym: abus
** 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 1:25:God i kamapim ol kain kain animal bilong ples na ol bikpela na liklik animal bilong bus. God i lukim olgeta dispela samting i gutpela, na em i amamas.→New International Version translation