Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe metaphorical use of animal names or animal-related terms to denote human qualities, e.g. chicken, sly fox, mother hen etc. as epithets for human individuals.
Migration is another aspect of social relations wherein zoosemy seems to have a notable presence, since animal metaphors can be an effective discursive strategy of othering, denigration and, in extreme cases, even dehumanization.
2022, Alisa Egorova, Hunting Down Animal Verbs: An Investigation into the Mechanisms of Meaning Transfer Underlying English Verbal Zoosemy, page 241 more example
It must be emphasised that in this case the working of the mechanism of zoosemy was so intense that already in the first half of the 16th century — in disparaging use — mongrel started to be used in the sense 'the offspring of parents of different nationalities or of high and low birth' (1542>1898).
2010, Robert Kiełtyka, “Selected aspects of zoosemy: the conceptual dimension origin/social status at work”, in Philologia Hispalensis, page 174
Origin
From zoo-; sem- (from Ancient Greek σῆμα "token, sign"); -y.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
zoosemy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zoosemy
“zoosemy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zoosemy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “zoosemy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zoosemy.
Source: zoosemy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.