myth
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable”). Attested in English since 1830. Doublet of mythos.
Inflected forms:
form: myths
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: mythe
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: Such stories as a genre.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
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)
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
Scientists debunk the myth that gum stays in the human stomach for seven years.
gloss: A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend
pos: noun
examples: Father Flanagan was legendary, his institution an American myth. (Tucson (Arizona) Citizen, 20 September 1979, 5A/3, cited after OED)
gloss: A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
pos: noun
examples: As for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years.
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.
gloss: An invented story, theory, or concept.
pos: noun
examples: His story is a pure myth.
Antonyms: antimyth
Related words: legend
Derived words: 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
Translations:
lang: Afrikaans
word: mite
lang: Albanian
word: mit
lang: Arabic
word: أُسْطُورَة
roman: ʔusṭūra
lang: Armenian
word: առասպել
roman: aṙaspel
lang: Armenian
word: միֆ
roman: mif
lang: Azerbaijani
word: اساطیر
roman: âsātir
lang: Azerbaijani
word: اوسطوره
roman: ostura
lang: Azerbaijani
word: mif
lang: Azerbaijani
word: əsatir
lang: Azerbaijani
word: əfsanə
lang: Basque
word: mito
lang: Belarusian
word: міф
roman: mif
lang: Belarusian
word: міт
roman: mit
lang: Bengali
word: শ্রুতি
roman: sruti
lang: Bulgarian
word: мит
roman: mit
lang: Burmese
word: ဒဏ္ဍာရီ
roman: dandari
lang: Catalan
word: mite
lang: Catalan
word: mites
lang: Chinese Cantonese
word: 神話 /神话
lang: Chinese
word: шынхуа
roman: šɨnhua
lang: Eastern Min Chinese
word: 神話 /神话
roman: sìng-uâ
lang: Hakka Chinese
word: 神話 /神话
roman: sṳ̀n-fa
lang: Chinese
word: 神話 /神话
roman: zh-min-nan
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 神話 /神话
roman: shénhuà
lang: Wu Chinese
word: 神話 /神话
roman: ⁶zen-gho
lang: Czech
word: mýtus
lang: Danish
word: myte
lang: Dutch
word: mythe
lang: Erzya
word: пазъёвкс
roman: pazjovks
lang: Esperanto
word: mito
lang: Estonian
word: müüt
lang: Faroese
word: frumsøgn
lang: Faroese
word: gudasøgn
lang: Faroese
word: myta
lang: Faroese
word: mýta
lang: Finnish
word: myytti
lang: Finnish
word: jumalaistaru
lang: French
word: mythe
lang: Galician
word: mito
lang: Georgian
word: თქმულება
roman: tkmuleba
lang: Georgian
word: მითი
roman: miti
lang: Georgian
word: ლეგენდა
roman: legenda
lang: German
word: Mythos
lang: German
word: Sage
lang: Greek
word: μύθος
roman: mýthos
lang: Ancient Greek
word: μῦθος
roman: mûthos
lang: Hebrew
word: מִיתוֹס
roman: mítos
lang: Hindi
word: मिथक
roman: mithak
lang: Hungarian
word: rege
lang: Hungarian
word: hitrege
lang: Hungarian
word: mítosz
lang: Icelandic
word: saga
lang: Icelandic
word: uppspuni
lang: Ido
word: mito
lang: Indonesian
word: mitos
lang: Irish
word: miotas
lang: Italian
word: mito
lang: Japanese
word: 神話
roman: shinwa
lang: Kazakh
word: аңыз
roman: añyz
lang: Kazakh
word: миф
roman: mif
lang: Khmer
word: ទេវកថា
roman: teivĕəʼ kaʼthaa
lang: Korean
word: 신화
roman: sinhwa
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: efsane
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: mît
lang: Kyrgyz
word: уламыш
roman: ulamış
lang: Kyrgyz
word: миф
roman: mif
lang: Lao
word: ຕຳນານ
roman: tam nān
lang: Lao
word: ນິທານ
roman: ni thān
lang: Latin
word: mȳthos
lang: Latvian
word: mīts
lang: Lithuanian
word: mitas
lang: Macedonian
word: мит
roman: mit
lang: Malay
word: mitos
lang: Māori
word: pūrākau
lang: Central Sierra Miwok
word: ˀútne-
lang: Mongolian
word: домог
roman: domog
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: myte
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: myte
lang: Church Slavic
word: мѷѳъ
roman: müθŭ
lang: Pashto
word: اسطوره
roman: asturá
lang: Pashto
word: افسانه
roman: afsāná
lang: Iranian Persian
word: اُسْطورِه
roman: osture
lang: Iranian Persian
word: اَفْسانِه
roman: afsâne
lang: Iranian Persian
word: رِوایَت
roman: revâyat
lang: Polish
word: mit
lang: Portuguese
word: mito
lang: Romanian
word: mit
lang: Romanian
word: legendă
lang: Russian
word: миф
roman: mif
lang: Scottish Gaelic
word: fionnsgeul
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ми̑т
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: mȋt
lang: Slovak
word: mýtus
lang: Slovene
word: mit
lang: Sotho
word: tshomo
lang: Spanish
word: mito
lang: Swedish
word: myt
lang: Tajik
word: афсона
roman: afsona
lang: Tajik
word: ривоят
roman: rivoyat
lang: Tajik
word: устура
roman: ustura
lang: Tamil
word: தொன்மம்
roman: toṉmam
lang: Telugu
word: పురాణము
roman: purāṇamu
lang: Thai
word: ตำนาน
roman: dtam-naan
lang: Thai
word: นิทาน
roman: ní-taan
lang: Turkish
word: mit
lang: Turkish
word: söylence
lang: Turkish
word: efsane
lang: Turkish
word: tansık
lang: Ottoman Turkish
word: اساطیر
roman: esātir
lang: Ottoman Turkish
word: داستان
roman: dastan, destan
lang: Ottoman Turkish
word: اسطوره
roman: ustura
lang: Turkmen
word: mif
lang: Turkmen
word: rowaýat
lang: Ukrainian
word: міф
roman: mif
lang: Ukrainian
word: міт
roman: mit
lang: Urdu
word: اُسْطُورَہ
roman: ustūra
lang: Urdu
word: اَفْسانَہ
roman: afsāna
lang: Urdu
word: داسْتان
roman: dāstān
lang: Uyghur
word: ئەپسانە
roman: epsane
lang: Uyghur
word: رىۋايەت
roman: riwayet
lang: Uzbek
word: afsona
lang: Uzbek
word: mif
lang: Vietnamese
word: thần thoại
lang: Welsh
word: chwedl
lang: Welsh
word: myth
lang: Yiddish
word: מיטאָס
roman: mitos