Animal

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæ.nɪ.məl/

Definitions

1. A living organism that can move, sense its environment, and typically consumes other organisms for energy
2. A multicellular organism that is capable of responding to stimuli, consuming organic material, and often characterized by its ability to move voluntarily
3. A type of living entity that is generally able to perceive, react to its surroundings, and feeds on other life forms for sustenance

Etymology: The word's most surprising link is to the idea of breath. Latin "anima" meant "breath, spirit," and the Latin adjective "animālis," formed from it, meant "of the breath" or "having breath." Its neuter form was used as a noun, so an "animal" was originally a breathing thing, a creature defined by the life that flows in and out of it. This is the same root that gives English "animate," "animus," and "animation." Latin "anima" and "animus" are not quite the same word, and both fed into the family. The sense of "animal" that the word carries is that of a living, moving being, the thing that distinguishes living creatures from plants and objects. Medieval French took the Latin noun into "animal," and English borrowed it from there in the Middle English period. English already had its own word for the same idea. Native "deer" once meant any animal in general, a sense it kept until it narrowed to one kind of creature. "Animal" slowly took over the broad meaning, and "deer" was left with the narrow one.

Synonyms: creature, beast, fauna, organism

Antonyms: human, person