bestiary

[ bes-chee-er-ee, bees- ]

noun

, plural bes·ti·ar·ies.

1. a collection of moralized fables, especially as written in the Middle Ages, about actual or mythical animals.

bestiary

/ ˈbɛstɪərɪ /

noun

1. a moralizing medieval collection of descriptions (and often illustrations) of real and mythical animals

Other Words From

• bes·ti·a·rist [bes, -chee-er-ist, -cher-, bees, -], noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bestiary¹

1615–25; < Medieval Latin bēstiārium, neuter of Latin bēstiārius. See beast, -ary

Example Sentences

Such animals were found in bestiaries, which were illustrated books offering the most popular sources of information about animals, real or imaginary, during the Middle Ages.

From BBC

The bestiary of acceptable species on which respectable researchers can experiment is expanding.

From Salon

With terrifying beasts like the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer, Stranger Things has slowly been building up an impressive bestiary of monsters.

From The Verge

Neutrinos are, without question, the weirdest denizens of the vast and varied particle-physics bestiary: They come in three types, but somehow oscillate between these different forms as they travel.

From Scientific American

Perhaps you’re familiar with Ramparts magazine’s bestiaries, which lampooned the political follies of the 1960s, or “Sorel’s Unfamiliar Quotations” in The Atlantic Monthly.

From New York Times

Related Words

• fantasy
• fiction
• legend
• myth
• parable
• tale
• yarn