Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.
| bandersnatch | an imaginary wild animal of fierce disposition; a person of uncouth or unconventional habits, attitudes, etc. especially one considered a menace, nuisance, or the like. [Coined by Lewis Carroll in "Through the Looking Glass"]. |
| bargest barghest barguest | a dog-like goblin portending death. |
| barometz | a fabulous Russian creature, half plant and half sheep; the inverted woolly caudex etc. of the tree-fern Cibotium barometz, which was used to create the illusion of such a creature. |
| basilisk | a fabled serpent that could kill by its look. |
| bibe | a banshee whose crying is an omen of death. |
| bigfoot | a large hairy humanlike creature. Pl. BIGFEET or BIGFOOTS. |
| boojum | a mythical animal invented by Lewis Carroll. |
| bunyip | a fabulous monster of Australian swamps and lagoons. |
| centaur | a mythical creature half-man, half-horse. [Gk. kentauros]. |
| centaurian | of or like a CENTAUR. |
| cerberean cerberian | of or resembling, Cerberus, a watchdog, especially in the fact of having three heads. |
| chimaera chimera | a fire-breathing monster with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a serpent. Also used in genetics to describe any mixture of two or more (real) creatures. |
| chimaeric chimeric chimerical | of the nature of a CHIMAERA; imaginary, fanciful, visionary. |
| cockatrice | a fabulous serpent whose breath and look were said to be fatal. Cf. BASILISK. |
| cyclops | a one-eyed monster > CYCLOPES. Can also be a genus of freshwater copepod. N.B. no CYCLOP*. |
| cyclopean cyclopean cyclopic | relating to a cyclops; also, relating to a prehistoric Greek style of masonry with immense stones of irregular form. |
| draconian draconic | of or of the nature of a dragon. |
| dragon | a mythical monster usually represented as breathing fire and having a scaly reptilian body, wings, claws, and a long tail. |
| dragoness | a female dragon. |
| dragonise dragonize | to turn into a dragon. |
| dragonish | resembling a dragon. |
| dragonlike | like a dragon. |
| firedrake firedragon | a fiery dragon. |
| fum fung | a fabulous bird. |
| gorgon | (with capital) one of three female winged monsters (Stheno, Euryale and Medusa), with horrible and petrifying faces and hissing serpents for hair; (without capital) anybody, esp a woman, who is very ugly or formidable. |
| griffin griffon gryfon gryphon | an imaginary animal with a lion's body and an eagle's head. [GRIFFON can also be a breed of dog or a kind of vulture]. |
| grype | a griffin. |
| harpy | a rapacious monster covered in filth, having a woman's face and body and a bird's wings and claws, supposed to be a minister of divine vengeance. |
| >harpylike | like a HARPY. |
| hellhound | a devilish dog. |
| hippodame | a fabulous sea monster. |
| hippogriff hippogryph | a fabulous winged animal, half horse and half griffin. |
| hircocervus | a fabulous creature, half goat, half stag. |
| huma | a mythical bird similar to the phoenix, supposed to bring luck to any person over whom it hovers on its restless flights. [Pers. & Urdu huma phoenix.] |
| hydra | (with capital) a water monster with many heads, which when cut off were succeeded by others; (without capital) a freshwater hydrozoon of the genus Hydra, remarkable for power of multiplication on being cut or divided. |
| impundulu | (Zulu) a mythical bird with magical powers, often identified with the secretary bird. Pl. IMPUNDULUS. |
| jabberwock jabberwocky | a mythical creature created by Lewis Carroll, now used to mean nonsense, gibberish. |
| jackalope | a mythical animal that is reported chiefly from the western US and is reputed to be the size of a small deer and to have the body of a jackrabbit and the horns of an antelope. |
| jumart | the impossible mythical offspring of a cow and donkey. |
| kelpie kelpy | a water-horse, a fabulous beast. |
| kraken | a legendary sea monster. |
| kylin | a fabulous animal figured in the decoration of Chinese pottery. |
| lamia | a mythical monster with snake's body and woman's head and breasts. Pl. LAMIAE or LAMIAS. |
| leviathan | an (imaginary or real) aquatic animal of enormous size; a sea-monster. |
| lindworm | a wingless dragon. |
| lycanthrope lycanthropist | a WEREWOLF. |
| lycanthropy | the condition of being a LYCANTHROPE. |
| manticora manticore | a mythical monster with head of man, body of lion, tail of dragon or scorpion. [For a fine imagining of a MANTICORE, as well as of a HIPPOGRIFF and a COCKATRICE, see E.R. Eddison's 'The Worm Ouroboros']. |
| medusa | (with capital) one of the three Gorgons, whose head, with snakes for hair, turned beholders into stone, but was cut off by Perseus, and placed in Athena's aegis; (without capital) a jellyfish > MEDUSAE or MEDUSAS. |
| monoceros | a one-horned creature; a unicorn; a sea monster with one horn, possibly based on the narwhal or rorqual > MONOCEROSES. |
| onocentaur | a kind of CENTAUR, half-man and half-ass. |
| ouroboros uroboros | a snake eating its own tail, symbolizing totality or completion. Pl. OUROBOROSES. |
| pegasus | (with capital) the winged horse that sprang from Medusa's blood, by later writers associated with the Muses; (without capital) a member of a genus (Pegasus) of small fishes superficially like seahorses. |
| percolin | a bird unknown to ornithology and apparently dreamed up by the staff of Chambers! |
| phenix phoenix | a bird fabled to exist single, to be consumed by fire by its own act, and to rise again from its ashes. |
| roc rok ruc rukh | a fabulous bird, very large, and presumed capable |
| rosmarine | (Spenser) a mythical walrus-like sea animal that feeds on dew. |
| sasquatch | a large hairy manlike creature said to inhabit certain parts of Canada. |
| satyre | a Spenserian sea-monster. |
| shapeshifter | (in folklore) a creature that has the ability to change its physical form at will. |
| shapeshifting | (in folklore) the ability to change physical form at will. |
| simorg simurg simurgh | a monstrous bird of Persian fable. |
| snark | an imaginary animal created by Lewis Carroll. |
| sphinx | any of several Egyptian stone figures of a creature with a human or animal head and (occas.) breast and a lion's body > SPHINXES or SPHINGES. [Gk. from sphingein, to draw tight]. |
| taniwha | a mythical monster, that lives in very deep water. |
| tarand | a mythical creature said to have the power of changing colour to match its surroundings. [Gk. tarand(r)os a reindeer or (probably) elk]. |
| thunderbird | in N. American Indian lore, a huge bird personifying thunder and lightning. |
| tragelaph | a fabulous animal, part goat, part stag. [Gr. tragelaphos, from tragos, a goat + elaphos, a deer]. |
| turnskin | a WEREWOLF. |
| unicorn | an imaginary creature usually depicted as a white horse with one long spiralled horn growing from its forehead. |
| uroboros | see OUROBOROS. |
| uroboric | of or like a UROBOROS. |
| wasserman | a man-shaped sea monster. Pl. WASSERMEN. |
| wendigo windigo | a mythical monster among some N. American Indian tribes, that eats human flesh > WENDIGOS, WINDIGOS or WENDIGOES, WINDIGOES. [Ojibwa wintika]. |
| werewolf werwolf | a mythical being able to change at times from a person to a wolf. |
| werewolfery | the state of being a WEREWOLF. |
| werewolfish werwolfish | like a WEREWOLF. |
| werewolfism | the state of being a WEREWOLF. |
| werwolf | see WEREWOLF. |
| whangam | (Goldsmith) an imaginary animal. |
| windigo | see WENDIGO. |
| wiver wivern wyvern | a dragon. In heraldry a dragon is distinguished from a wyvern by the fact that a dragon has 4 legs, while a wyvern has 2. |
| yale | a fabulous heraldic beast. |
| yeti | the Abominable Snowman. |
| yowie | a tall ape-like monster of SE Australia. [Aborig. yuwi, dream-spirit]. |
| ziffius | a sea-monster, perhaps a sword-fish. |