Cthulhu

[ kuh-thoo-loo ]

noun

1. an otherworldly entity, usually portrayed as a gigantic winged creature with a humanoid body and a tentacled face, that was created by the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft in the 1928 short story The Call of Cthulhu and became an important part of Lovecraft's mythos, later also becoming a popular culture reference.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Cthulhu¹

Coined in 1928 by U.S. writer H.P. Lovecraft ( def ) (1890–1937) in his short story The Call of Cthulhu, published in the U.S. pulp magazine Weird Tales; resemblance to chthonian or chthonic is accidental