bestiary

American  

[bes-chee-er-ee, bees-] / ˈbɛs tʃiˌɛr i, ˈbis- /

noun

plural

bestiaries

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

---

bestiary British  

/ ˈbɛstɪərɪ /

noun

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

---

Other Word Forms

• bestiarist noun

Etymology

Origin of bestiary

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

Explanation

A bestiary is a book from the medieval era with pictures and stories of animals. Bestiaries includes real animals as well as mythical animals such as unicorns. A medieval source of information about animals is a bestiary — a book with descriptions of animals real and imaginary, often with moralizing tales of their exploits. In this respect, bestiaries had a lot in common with fairy tales, which also often end with a moral. Bestiaries often had gorgeous artwork portraying the real and fanciful creatures. If you like reading about centaurs as much as bears, you'd probably enjoy reading a bestiary, which is related to the word beast.

Example Sentences

Designer Virginie Viard collaborated again with contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan who used a bestiary in house founder Coco Chanel’s apartment as a creative springboard for the carnival-like spring decor.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 24, 2023

Naked mole-rats and blind mole-rats are now safely within the research bestiary.

From Salon • Aug. 20, 2022

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 • Apr. 13, 2022

Here, reducing the medieval bestiary to a contemporary footnote makes for a listless conclusion to an otherwise strong and compelling show.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 23, 2019

Jorge Borges, in his recent bestiary of mythical creatures, notes that the idea of round beasts was imagined by many speculative minds, and Johannes Kepler once argued that the earth itself is such a being.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

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