Showing definitions for Cthulhu

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Fictional Characters dictionary results for Cthulhu

Cthulhu

American  

[kuh-thoo-loo] / kəˈθu lu /

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.

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Etymology

Origin of Cthulhu

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

Example Sentences

Name the powerful emotions you feel and set them aside, because unleashing your anger, outrage, disgust and so forth — as, again, with Cthulhu — only nourishes him.

From Salon • Feb. 9, 2025

Later writers expanded Heyer’s imagined world — meaning the Regency setting is romance’s version of the Cthulhu mythos, albeit one populated with handsome dukes instead of tentacular horrors.

From New York Times • Mar. 12, 2022

Moreno-Garcia has written a vampire novel set in Mexico City, edited an award-winning anthology of Cthulhu Mythos stories by female writers, and, later in 2021, will publish a sword-and-sorcery novella.

From Washington Post • Aug. 14, 2021

It looks a good bit like Cthulhu fan art.

From The Verge • Sep. 9, 2019

The answer is murky even to the writers, but at last week’s Los Angeles premiere scribe Will Beall described it as “a Lovecraftian, Cthulhu kind of a character that was eons old.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 19, 2018