manticore

American

[man-ti-kawr, -kohr] / ˈmæn tɪˌkɔr, -ˌkoʊr /

noun

a legendary monster with a man's head, horns, a lion's body, and the tail of a dragon or, sometimes, a scorpion.

manticore British

/ ˈmæntɪˌkɔː /

noun

a monster with a lion's body, a scorpion's tail, and a man's head with three rows of teeth. It roamed the jungles of India and, like the Sphinx, would ask travellers a riddle and kill them when they failed to answer it

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of manticore

1300–50; Middle English < Latin mantichōrās < Greek, erroneous reading for martichṓras < Iranian; compare Old Persian martiya- man, Avestan xvar- devour, Persian mardom-khar < man-eating; probably ultimately alluding to the tiger, once common in the Caspian Sea region

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Perhaps very few humans know why. But some creatures do. We sphinxes take in news from everything—the ratatoskas, the stars, the naiads and dryads and nereids. Even the manticores.”

From Literature

He saw Nico and his sister on a snowy cliff in Maine, Percy Jackson protecting them from a manticore.

From Literature

Its residents include elves, fairies, centaurs, manticores and at least one queer cyclops.

From Los Angeles Times

Either way, by the time “Onward” has wrapped its journey, it will probably be the only movie with a manticore to make you cry.

From Washington Times

The shield had been badly damaged in a manticore attack last winter, but now it was perfect again—not a scratch.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023