bestiality

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   sexual activity between a human and an animal

   The statute specifically criminalizes bestiality and other sexual abuse of animals.

2. 2
   noun

   brutally cruel, savage, or beastlike behavior or character

   The memoir exposes both the suffering of war and the bestiality that produced it.

From late Middle English bestialite, through Old French from Medieval Latin bestialitas, 'animal or beastlike character,' based on Latin bestia, 'beast.' The older abstract sense denoted brutish nature or conduct; the word later developed its specialized sexual and legal sense.

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