Etymologically
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creature

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkɹiː.tʃə/ (UK); /ˈkɹi.tʃɚ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French creature (“created being; all creation”),[2][3][4] and probably directly borrowed from Late Latin creatura (“a thing created”),[2][3][5] from creatus, the past participle of creāre (“to create”) (see create),[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to grow”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Anything created, animate or inanimate: before 1300 in the OED, about 1300 in Etymonline;[6][3][5] a human being, about 1280 in Barnhart.[2]

Semantic evolution

A living creature, an animal, is from before 1300.[6] Of humans it is used in contempt, pity or endearment.[3] A person who owes his rise to another, a tool or puppet, is from the 1580s.[3] After 1 Timothy 4:4, every creature of God is good, it meant anything that ministers to comfort (1610s), and jocularly whisky or drink (1630s).[3][6] Creature comforts, material comforts, is from the 1650s.[3][2] The word was properly three syllables, and sometimes so in Elizabethan verse.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1280 – a human being.[2]
  • before 1300 – anything created; an animal.[6]
  • 1580s – someone's tool or puppet.[3]
  • 1630s – whisky (jocular).[3]
  • 1650s – creature comforts.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An animal, as distinct from a human being.
  2. A living being, especially an imaginary or strange one.
  3. A person, as an object of pity, contempt or affection: poor creature.
  4. A person or organization under the complete control of another.

Word family

  • creatural
  • creatureliness
  • creaturely
  • creaturehood
  • critter
  • creature comfort

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press