zoanthropy, n.

zoanthropy
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoanthropy_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zoanthropynoun

## Earlier version

- zoanthropy in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoanthropy mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zoanthropy. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the noun zoanthropy?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.0002
1890 | 0.0004
1900 | 0.0004
1910 | 0.0005
1920 | 0.0006
1930 | 0.0007
1940 | 0.0008
1950 | 0.0009
1960 | 0.0008
1970 | 0.0008
1980 | 0.0008
1990 | 0.0007
2000 | 0.0007
2010 | 0.0007

### How is the noun zoanthropy pronounced?

#### British English

/zəʊˈanθrəpi/
zoh-AN-thruh-pee

### Where does the noun zoanthropy come from?

Earliest known use

1850s

The earliest known use of the noun zoanthropy is in the 1850s.

OED's only evidence for zoanthropy is from 1856, in the writing of E. Jesse.

zoanthropy is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin zōanthrōpia.

### Nearby entries

1. zloty, n. 1915–
2. Zn, n. 1814–
3. -zoa, comb. form
4. -zoan, comb. form
5. zoantharian, adj. & n. 1887–
6. zoanthid, n. 1870–
7. zoanthidan, adj. 1888–
8. zoanthodeme, n. 1877–
9. zoanthoid, adj. 1854–
10. zoanthropic, adj. 1891–
11. zoanthropy, n.1856–
12. zoanthus, n. 1841–
13. zoarial, adj. 1896–
14. zoarium, n. 1880–
15. zob, n. 1911–
16. zocalo, n. 1884–
17. zocco, n. 1664–1723
18. zocle, n. 1704–
19. zoco, n. 1892–
20. zodiac, n. 1390–
21. zodiacal, adj. 1576–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin zōanthrōpia.
< modern Latin zōanthrōpia, < Greek ζῷον animal + ἄνθρωπος man: compare cynanthropy n., lycanthropy n.

## Meaning & use

Pathology.

1. 1856–
   A form of insanity in which a person imagines himself or herself to be a beast.
   1. 1856

      > Several forms of mania, classed by Sauvages in his Nosology under the general head of Zoanthropy.

      E. Jesse, Walton's Angler i. v. 166 (note)
   pathology psychiatry
   1. lycanthropy 1584–
      A kind of insanity described by ancient writers, in which the patient imagined himself or herself to be a wolf, and had the instincts and…
   2. cynanthropy 1594–
      A form of madness in which a person believes himself or herself to be a dog and behaves accordingly.
   3. hob-thrush 1658
      ? Lycanthropy. Obsolete. (Apparently an erroneous translation of French loup-garou lycanthrope, through a misunderstanding of Cotgrave's definition.)
   4. wolf-madness 1663–
      A form of mania in which a person imagines himself or herself to be a wolf (= lycanthropy, n. 1).
   5. syphilomania 1815–
      The tendency (among physicians) to overdiagnose syphilis, or to treat patients for syphilis unnecessarily; an instance of this. Now rare.
   6. hippanthropy 1847–
      The delusional belief that one is a horse; an instance of this.
   7. habromania 1854–
      A kind of insanity in which the delusions are of a cheerful or gay character.
   8. zoanthropy 1856–
      A form of insanity in which a person imagines himself or herself to be a beast.
   9. boanthropy 1864–
      A form of madness in which a man believes himself to be an ox (see Daniel iv. 33).
   10. megalomania 1885–
       In Psychology: delusions of power or self-importance, esp. resulting from mental illness; a passion for grandiose schemes. More generally: lust for…
   11. folie de grandeur 1890–
       Originally: a condition characterized by the delusional belief that one possesses greatness or is a great historical or religious figure (rare)…
   12. plutomania 1890–94
       A delusional belief that one possesses immense wealth. Obsolete.
   13. uranomania 1890–
       The delusion that one is of divine or celestial origin.
   14. micromania 1892–
       The delusion that the body or part of it has become abnormally small. Also: a persistent or exaggerated tendency to belittle oneself or regard…
   15. delusions of grandeur 1909–
       A false belief concerning one's personality or status, which is thought to be more important than it is. Also figurative.
   16. omnipotence 1916–
       Psychoanalysis. The belief that all one's desires will be fulfilled, or that a certain outcome or object can be attained merely by wishing for it.
   17. nihilism 1927–
       Psychiatry. The delusional belief that the patient's self, the outside world, or parts of either have ceased to exist or to function. Cf. nihilistic…
   18. apophenia 1959–
       Psychiatry. The baseless or irrational attribution of great or revelatory significance to an external event or internal experience, occurring during…
   19. apophany 1960–
       The baseless or irrational attribution of great or revelatory significance to an external event or internal experience, occurring during the…
   20. sundowner 1974–
       Originally and chiefly U.S. In plural. Symptoms of dementia (disorientation, agitation, etc.) that occur or worsen significantly towards the end…
   21. sundowning 1978–
       Originally North American. Worsening of symptoms of dementia (such as disorientation, agitation, delusions, etc.) towards the end of the day or…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zəʊˈanθrəpi/
zoh-AN-thruh-pee

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Frequency

zoanthropy typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zoanthropy is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zoanthropy, n., 1880–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1880 | 0.0002
1890 | 0.0004
1900 | 0.0004
1910 | 0.0005
1920 | 0.0006
1930 | 0.0007
1940 | 0.0008
1950 | 0.0009
1960 | 0.0008
1970 | 0.0008
1980 | 0.0008
1990 | 0.0007
2000 | 0.0007
2010 | 0.0007

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zoanthropic, adj. 1891–
   Pertaining to zoanthropy.

zoanthropy, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zoanthropy, n. was last modified in December 2024.