demigod

Etymology

It is formed from English demi- + god,^[2][3][4][5] rendering Latin sēmideus.^[2][3][4][6] Barnhart calls it a loan translation of the Latin word,^[7] and Klein notes that the compound is a hybrid.^[8] The first element comes through Old French demi (“half”), ultimately from Latin dīmidius (“half”).^[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A being partly of divine nature, in ancient mythology: 1530, in Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covered several kinds of being: the offspring of a deity and a mortal, a man raised to divine rank, and a minor god.^[2][3] By 1593, in G. Harvey's Pierces Supererogation, it could also describe a living man of extraordinary qualities or power,^[2][10] and the Historical Thesaurus files that use under godlike power, under beauty and under glory.^[10] The feminine demigoddess followed in the early 17th century, and the Shorter Oxford marks it as rare.^[4]

Timeline

• 1530 – a being partly divine, or a minor deity.^[2][10]
• 1593 – a man of extraordinary qualities, achievements or power.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. In mythology, a being who is partly divine, such as the child of a god and a mortal.^[11][5][2]
2. A lesser deity.^[11][2]
3. A person so outstanding in ability, power or looks as to seem almost divine: To his staff the founder had become a demigod.^[11][5][2]

Word family

• demigoddess

Related words

• demi-
• god

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins