Etymology

bestiary

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Today it means: A medieval treatise of various real or imaginary animals. Full definition →

Medieval Latin bēstiārium ← Latin bēstia
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frombēstia“beast, animal”
  2. Medieval Latin · borrowed frombēstiārium
  3. English todaybestiary

Borrowed from Medieval Latin bēstiārium, from Latin bēstia (“beast, animal”). By surface analysis, beast + -ary.

Words from the same roots

Latinbēstia all →

bestial

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.