cryptid means A creature known only from folklore or legend, the existence of which is not proven by scientific observation. It carries an Arena rating of 1410, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, cryptid ranks #937 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,526 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #1,837 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,493 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words.
cryptid is pronounced /ˈkɹɪp.tɪd/.
Why “cryptid” is a great word
A creature whose existence is suggested by folklore, anecdotal reports, or other unverified evidence but is not recognized by scientific consensus. From crypt- (from Greek kryptos, meaning "hidden") + -id (a suffix forming nouns), it was coined in 1983 by John E. Wall in the ISC Newsletter. Unlike a "mythical creature," which belongs to the sacred architecture of a culture, or an "extinct species," which has left its bones in the ledger of science, a cryptid is a biological rumor, a persistent maybe. It is the ripple in a remote loch, the blurred print in the mountain mud, the fleeting silhouette seen from a car’s headlights on a backwoods road—the haunting possibility that our maps of the living world might still have blank spaces.
Etymology
From crypt + -id. Coined by John E. Wall in 1983 in the ISC Newsletter.
noun
- A creature known only from folklore or legend, the existence of which is not proven by scientific observation.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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