English Explanatory Dictionary

myth

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc.
  2. Such stories as a genre.
  3. A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception; a fictitious or imaginary person or thing; a popular conception about a real person or event which exaggerates or idealizes reality.
  4. A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend
  5. A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
  6. An invented story, theory, or concept.

Pronunciation

mĭth /mɪθ/ En-us-myth.ogg /mɪt̪(ʰ)/ /majt̪(ʰ)/

Word forms

myth myths mythe

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable”). Attested in English since 1830. Doublet of mythos.

Synonyms

misconception

Antonyms

antimyth

Related words

legend

Derived words

demyth edumyth mythbust mythbuster mythconception mytheme mythic mythical mythicism mythicize mythification mythify mythinformation mythise mythism mythist mythistorical mythistory mythization mythize mythless mythlike mythmaker mythmaking mytho- mythologem mythological mythology mythonym mythopoeia mythopoeic mythopoesis mythopoetical mythos mythpunk mythscape mythy

Translations

Afrikaans: mite Albanian: mit Arabic: أُسْطُورَة Armenian: առասպել Azerbaijani: اساطیر Azerbaijani: اوسطوره Azerbaijani: mif Azerbaijani: əsatir Azerbaijani: əfsanə Basque: mito Belarusian: міф Belarusian: міт Bengali: শ্রুতি Bulgarian: мит Burmese: ဒဏ္ဍာရီ Catalan: mite Catalan: mites Chinese Cantonese: 神話 /神话 Chinese: шынхуа Chinese: 神話 /神话 Eastern Min Chinese: 神話 /神话 Hakka Chinese: 神話 /神话 Chinese Mandarin: 神話 /神话 Wu Chinese: 神話 /神话 Czech: mýtus Danish: myte Dutch: mythe Erzya: пазъёвкс Esperanto: mito Estonian: müüt Faroese: frumsøgn Faroese: gudasøgn Faroese: myta Faroese: mýta Finnish: myytti Finnish: jumalaistaru French: mythe Galician: mito Georgian: თქმულება Georgian: მითი Georgian: ლეგენდა German: Mythos German: Sage Greek: μύθος Ancient Greek: μῦθος Hebrew: מִיתוֹס Hindi: मिथक Hungarian: rege Hungarian: hitrege Hungarian: mítosz Icelandic: saga Icelandic: uppspuni Ido: mito Indonesian: mitos Irish: miotas Italian: mito Japanese: 神話
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