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Glite Dictionary
🐾 Animal-like 🦁 A creature
animalian

animalian

9.9
A living creature like a bird or mammal
  • noun
  • /ˌænɪˈmeɪliən/
  • Archaic
translation icon : animal
  • In ancient texts, the term animalian often referred to both wild creatures and domesticated pets.

Examples

  • How can the raw and consuming desire of the animalian "me, me!" submit except to unfailing love?

    Academic text (1998)

  • The researchers studied the behavior of animalian beings in their natural habitats.

  • The zoo is home to many fascinating animalian species from around the world.

Synonyms

creature
vsanimalian
∞ 1.3

A living being such as an animal, not a plant or thing

is limited to living organisms and used mainly in archaic contexts

Surface Forms

animalian singular
animalians plural

Morphology

animalian = animal (semi-transparent) = animal + ian

The word is clearly built on 'animal', but the archaic noun sense is not a fully productive or fully predictable modern formation.

Etymology

Animalian is built from the everyday word animal ('a living creature') and the ending -ian ('related to'), and in older or rare English it was sometimes used as a noun for a single 'animal'. So using animalian as a noun simply means 'a creature'.