Mantichore

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A legendary monster from Persian and Greek mythology having a human face, the body of a lion, and a venomous scorpion's tail
2. A fabulous beast combining human facial features with the bulk and limbs of a lion and ending in a scorpion's stinging tail
3. A mythological creature depicted with a man's head atop a leonine body and armed with a scorpion tail at its rear

Etymology: The name comes from Old Persian "martiya-khvara," meaning "man-eater," which Greek writers rendered as "mantichōras." Greek sources such as Ctesias, a physician at the Persian court, described the creature as having a human face, a lion's body, and a scorpion's tail, and as having a voice like a pipe or a trumpet. Some later readers linked the Greek form to "mantis," a seer, but the Persian origin is the accepted explanation. From Greek it passed into Latin as "mantichora," and Pliny the Elder repeated the description in his natural history. English took the word from Latin, so the monster reached English readers through a chain of translations and copied descriptions rather than through any direct sighting. Its name still reflects its supposed diet, not its appearance.

Synonyms: manticore