zoosemy

English

Etymology

From zoo- +‎ sem- (from Ancient Greek σῆμα "token, sign") +‎ -y.

Noun

zoosemy (uncountable)

1. (linguistics, semiotics) The metaphorical use of animal names or animal-related terms to denote human qualities, e.g. chicken, sly fox, mother hen etc. as epithets for human individuals.
   • 2010, Robert Kiełtyka, “Selected aspects of zoosemy: the conceptual dimension origin/social status at work”, in Philologia Hispalensis‎^[1], page 174:

     It must be emphasised that in this case the working of the mechanism of zoosemy was so intense that already in the first half of the 16th century — in disparaging use — mongrel started to be used in the sense 'the offspring of parents of different nationalities or of high and low birth' (1542>1898).

   • 2022, Alisa Egorova, Hunting Down Animal Verbs: An Investigation into the Mechanisms of Meaning Transfer Underlying English Verbal Zoosemy, page 24:

     Migration is another aspect of social relations wherein zoosemy seems to have a notable presence, since animal metaphors can be an effective discursive strategy of othering, denigration and, in extreme cases, even dehumanization.