Word.ws English Dictionary

lycanthropy

Syllables: ly·can·thro·pyUK/laɪ̯ˈkæn.θɹə.piː//laɪ̯ˈkæn.θɹə.pi/

lycanthropy noun: the state of being a lycanthrope (or werewolf), a person who can shapeshift between the form of a human being and a wolf, often said to happen involuntarily during a full moon; werewolfdom.

Noun

lycanthropy (usually uncountable, plural lycanthropies)

  1. (usually) The state of being a lycanthrope (or werewolf), a person who can shapeshift between the form of a human being and a wolf, often said to happen involuntarily during a full moon; werewolfdom.
  2. (broadly, usually) The state of being a person who can shapeshift between the form of a human being and an animal, whether or not it is a wolf.
    • On one hand, Jacques is quite glad that he doesn’t have classic lycanthropy. Turning into a squirrel tends to cause fewer problems than turning into a wolf.2014, Marijn Haverbeke, “4: Data Structures: Objects and Arrays”, in Eloquent JavaScript, 2nd Ed.: A Modern Introduction to Programming, No Starch Press, →ISBN, page 60
    Synonyms:
    therianthropy
  3. (usually) A delusion in which one believes oneself to be a wolf or other wild animal.

lycanthropy meaning in Tamil and Malay

lycanthropy in Tamil

தம்மை மிருகமாகச் சிந்திக்கும் மனக்கோளாறு

lycanthropy in Malay

act of shapeshifting
likantropi

Synonyms of lycanthropy

Forms of lycanthropy

plurallycanthropies
alternative formlycanthropia

Origin of lycanthropy

Borrowed from Ancient Greek λῠκᾰνθρωπῐ́ᾱ (lŭkănthrōpĭ́ā), from λῠκᾰ́νθρωπος (lŭkắnthrōpos, “wolfman”). By surface analysis, lycanthrope + -y (abstract noun suffix).

Words formed from lycanthropy

Questions about lycanthropy

What does lycanthropy mean?
Lycanthropy means the state of being a lycanthrope (or werewolf), a person who can shapeshift between the form of a human being and a wolf, often said to happen involuntarily during a full moon; werewolfdom.
What is lycanthropy in Tamil?
Lycanthropy in Tamil is தம்மை மிருகமாகச் சிந்திக்கும் மனக்கோளாறு. See Lycanthropy meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is lycanthropy?
Lycanthropy is a noun.
How do you pronounce lycanthropy?
Lycanthropy is pronounced /laɪ̯ˈkæn.θɹə.piː/ (UK).
What is the plural of lycanthropy?
The plural of lycanthropy is lycanthropies.

Words near lycanthropy in the dictionary

  1. lycanthropically
  2. lycanthropies
  3. lycanthropist
  4. lycanthropists
  5. lycanthropous
  6. lycanthropy
  7. lycaon
  8. Lycaonia
  9. Lycaonian
  10. Lycaonians
  11. LYCE

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lycanthropy (page history and authors); lycanthropy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-NaomiAmethyst-lycanthropy.wav.

Cite this entry: “lycanthropy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lycanthropy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.