creature

A2 Topic:Animals

Also spelled creetur, creetur’s, cretur, and creturs

US /ˈkɹi.tʃɚ/ UK /ˈkɹiː.tʃə/ See IPA manual

Freq #2374

Meanings

1

noun
A living thing, especially an animal.

The forest is home to many small creatures.
2

noun
A strange, frightening, or imaginary being.

The film is full of monsters and other terrifying creatures.
3

noun
A person, often described in a particular way.

He is a creature of habit who eats the same lunch every day.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a living thing, especially... animal

3 noun · a person, often described... person

More being

Word family

Forms creatures

Derived forms craturcraythurcreaturalcreaturedomcreaturehoodcreaturekindcreaturelesscreaturelikecreaturelingcreaturelycreatureshipcreaturess

Related forms create creating creation creative creatively creator creatrix

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

legendary creature
a being described in traditional stories rather than established as a real animal

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Creature comes from Latin creatura, “a created being.” Its earliest recorded English sense was broad: anything that had been created.

Etymology

From Middle English creature in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via Old French creature, criature, from Latin creātūra, from creō. Displaced native Old English ġesċeaft. Doublet of craythur and critter.

*ḱer- (grow) Proto-Indo-European creature Middle English creātūra Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# creature

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈkɹi.tʃɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkɹiː.tʃə/
**Frequency rank:** 2374

## Meanings
1. A living thing, especially an animal.
2. A strange, frightening, or imaginary being.
3. A person, often described in a particular way.

## Examples
- The forest is home to many small creatures.
- The film is full of monsters and other terrifying creatures.
- He is a creature of habit who eats the same lunch every day.

## Synonyms
- being

## Derived Forms
- cratur
- craythur
- creatural
- creaturedom
- creaturehood
- creaturekind
- creatureless
- creaturelike
- creatureling
- creaturely
- creatureship
- creaturess

## Related Forms
- create
- creating
- creation
- creative
- creatively
- creator
- creatrix

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ḱer- (grow)
- Root: creature
- Root: creātūra

## Etymology
From Middle English creature in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via Old French creature, criature, from Latin creātūra, from creō. Displaced native Old English ġesċeaft. Doublet of craythur and critter.

## AI Etymology
creature comes from Middle English creature in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via Old French creature, criature, from Latin creātūra, from creō. Displaced native Old English ġesċeaft. Doublet of craythur and critter. The historical chain includes Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (grow), Middle English creature, Old French creature, Latin creātūra. Current senses include A living thing, especially an animal and A strange, frightening, or imaginary being. English relatives and later formations include cratur, craythur, creatural, create, creating.

## Topics
- Animals

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