myth
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: mĭth
ipa: /mɪθ/
note: Indic
ipa: /mɪt̪(ʰ)/
note: spelling pronunciation
ipa: /majt̪(ʰ)/
homophone: miff (th-fronting)
rhymes: -ɪθ
Forms: form: myths
form: mythe
Etymology: From Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable”). Attested in English since 1830. Doublet of mythos.
Senses: examples: text: Jacobsen's theory about the empty storehouse is still valid, for a myth never has one meaning only; a myth is a polyphonic fugue of many voices.
ref: 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 175:
glosses: A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc.
examples: Myth was the product of man's emotion and imagination, acted upon by his surroundings. (E. Clodd, Myths & Dreams (1885), 7, cited after OED)
glosses: Such stories as a genre.
examples: text: Okay, okay, okay… First, of course, babies feel pain. How the fuck did we ever think otherwise⁉ But more importantly, the fact that painkillers are addictive was not a myth. It’s like a book of Greek mythology featuring the stories of Zeus, Sisyphus, Oedipus and Yanni. Come on! That last one is very real and it cannot be dismissed.
ref: 2016, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Opiods”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 27, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:
text: Scientists debunk the myth that gum stays in the human stomach for seven years.
synonyms: misconception
glosses: A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception; a fictitious or imaginary person or thing; a popular conception about a real person or event which exaggerates or idealizes reality.
examples: Father Flanagan was legendary, his institution an American myth. (Tucson (Arizona) Citizen, 20 September 1979, 5A/3, cited after OED)
glosses: A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend
examples: text: As for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years.
ref: 1849, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Caxtons:
text: Living beyond the Omega-4 mass relay in the Terminus Systems, the mysterious Collector species is glimpsed so rarely as to be taken for a myth by most in galactic society. In reality, Collectors are human-sized insectoid bipeds and can resemble massive winged beetles. They are a terrifying force in the galaxy, responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands.
ref: 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Collectors Codex entry:
glosses: A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
examples: text: His story is a pure myth.
glosses: An invented story, theory, or concept.
Hyponyms: countermyth
creation myth
cybermyth
Euromyth
geomyth
monomyth
myth of simultaneity
neuromyth
nonmyth
origin myth
protomyth
pseudomyth
stab-in-the-back myth
submyth
urban myth
ur-myth
Derived terms: demyth
edumyth
mythbust
mythbuster
mythconception
mytheme
mythic
mythical
mythicism
mythicize
mythification
mythify
mythinformation
mythise
mythism
mythist
mythistorical
mythistory
mythization
mythize
mythless
mythlike
mythmaker
mythmaking
mytho-
mythologem
mythological
mythology
mythonym
mythopoeia
mythopoeic
mythopoesis
mythopoetical
mythos
mythpunk
mythscape
mythy
Related terms: legend