Meanings
plural haruspicies · alternative aruspicy
- countableuncountableDivination by use of animal entrails, usually the victims of sacrifice.
Different kinds of divination, which have passed for sciences, we have had: […] 6. Haruspicy, by inspecting the bowels of animals. […]
1807, Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, Volume 1, Whitehall, page 2381 more example
That our fates should be made dependent upon the stars, planets, and constellations, however preposterous a conceit, at least imparts a dignity to our nature by conjoining earth with Heaven: but that the doom of kings, empires, and individuals, should be regulated […] by the entrails of victims, as analysed by the butchers of Haruspicy […] is an evidence of stupid credulity that levels civilised man to the savage […]
1825, Horace Smith, Gaieties and Gravities: A Series of Essays, Comic Tales, and Fugitive Vagaries, Volume II, H. Colburn, page 333Synonyms: extispicy
Synonyms & antonyms
nounDivination by use of animal entrails, usually the victims of sacrifice.
Origin
- Latinharuspicium
- Englishharuspicy
From Latin haruspicium, from haruspex (“diviner of entrails”) + -ium (forming abstract nouns).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French haruspicine, extispicine
- haruspicinedivination by entrails
- extispicinedivination by entrails
Italian aruspicina
- aruspicinadivination by entrails
Latin haruspicium, haruspicīna
- haruspiciumdivination by entrails
- haruspicīnadivination by entrails
- extispiciumdivination by entrails
- extispicīnadivination by entrails
Cite this entry
haruspicy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haruspicy
“haruspicy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haruspicy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “haruspicy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haruspicy.
Source: haruspicy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.