emanata

E1M3A1N1A1T1A1

noun

Unrealistic pictorial elements emanating from a character, symbolizing something about that character, such as a sweatdrop for anxiety or a question mark for confusion, or emanating from an object, such as heat rays from the sun.

OriginLatin ēmānāre →
Scrabble 9
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Meanings

nounemanata pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlycomicsUnrealistic pictorial elements emanating from a character, symbolizing something about that character, such as a sweatdrop for anxiety or a question mark for confusion, or emanating from an object, such as heat rays from the sun.

    Emanata can come from things as well as people to show what's going on.

    1980, Mort Walker, The lexicon of comicana, Emanata, page 29
    1 more example

    Now that we have our characters, there's a lot more we can do with them to show what's going on inside them. Those of you who believe in mental telepathy should not be at all surprised at the things cartoonists have emanating from their characters.

    1980, Mort Walker, The lexicon of comicana, Emanata, page 28

Origin

  1. Latinēmānāre
  2. Englishemanata

Borrowed from Latin ēmānāre, "to flow out,". ēmānāre is the present active infinitive of ēmānō "flow out, ēmānō is derived from the Latin ex- (prefix meaning "out, away") + mānō (verb meaning "to give out; to flow").

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

emanata. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/emanata

MLA

“emanata.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/emanata. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “emanata,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/emanata.

Source: emanata on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.