different between creature vs specie

English

Alternative forms

• creäture (archaic, chiefly literary and philosophy)

Etymology

From Middle English creature in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via Old French creature, criature, from Latin cre?t?ra, from cre?. Displaced native Old English ?es?eaft. Doublet of craythur and critter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kr?'ch?, IPA^(key): /?k?i?t???/
• (General American) enPR: kr?'ch?r, IPA^(key): /?k?i?t????/
• (archaic) enPR: kr?.??tyo?or, IPA^(key): /k?i??e?tj??/
• Rhymes: -i?t??(?)

Noun

creature (plural creatures)

1. A living being; an animal.
   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds

     But what would be the sentiment of uppertendom, when it should be rumored that the beautiful young creature, of the proud Clarence Delwood's choice, had stooped so low, as to maintain herself by her own hands?

2. (sometimes derogatory) A human.
3. (now rare, religion) A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.
   • 1633, John Donne, "Sapho to Philænis":

     Thoughts, my mindes creatures, often are with thee, / But I, their maker, want their libertie.

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.10:

     the natural truth of God is an artificial erection of Man, and the Creator himself but a subtile invention of the Creature.
4. A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 240:

     they, too, despite the appearance of being creatures rather than creators of the Union, could assert the prior sovereignty of their states, for each had formed a state constitution […] before petitioning Congress for admission to the Union.

Usage notes

• For an explanation of the specialised use of the alternative spelling creäture, see its entry's usage notes.
• Adjectives often applied to "creature": evil, living, little, mythical, poor, strange, beautiful, wild, rational, marine, social, legendary, good, mysterious, curious, magical, dangerous, mythological, bizarre, monstrous, unhappy, huge, lowly, ugly, happy, unique, odd, weird, demonic, divine, imaginary, hideous, fabulous, nocturnal, angelic, political.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:creature

Derived terms

• creatural
• creature comfort
• (from dialectal forms) critter, creetur, cratur, craythur

Related terms

Translations

References

• creature in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• creature in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ecarteur

Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ure

Noun

creature f

1. plural of creatura

Latin

Participle

cre?t?re

1. vocative masculine singular of cre?t?rus

Middle Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cre?t?ra.

Noun

creature f

1. creature, being

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: creatuur

Further reading

• “creature”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “creature”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French criature, creature, from Latin cre?t?ra; equivalent to createn +? -ure.

Alternative forms

• creatur, creatour, creatoure, creater, creture, crature, cryature, criature

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kr??a??tiu?r/, /kr??a?tiu?r/, /kr??a?tu?r/
• (reduced second syllable) IPA^(key): /kr???tiu?r/, /?kr???tiu?r/, /?kr??tur/
• (accented second syllable) IPA^(key): /kr??a?tiu?r/, /?kra?tiu?r/

Noun

creature (plural creatures)

1. Something that has been created; an entity or object.
2. A living being or creature; an animal or beast.
3. A human being (often as a term of self-abasement).
4. (rare) The whole world, the totality of existence.
5. (rare) The process of making or creation.

Descendants

• English: creature; critter; craytur
• Scots: creature, crayter

References

• “cr??t?re, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-18.

Etymology 2

Noun

creature

1. Alternative form of creatour

Old French

Etymology

Late Latin cre?t?ra.

Noun

creature f (oblique plural creatures, nominative singular creature, nominative plural creatures)

1. creature; being; entity

Descendants

• Middle English: creature
• French: créature

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?spi??i/

Etymology 1

Originally in the phrase in specie; from Latin speci?, ablative singular of species. Compare payment in kind.

Noun

specie (uncountable)

1. Type or kind, in various uses of the phrase in specie.
2. Money, especially in the form of coins made from precious metal, that has an intrinsic value; coinage.
   • 1830, Joseph Plumb Martin, A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier, Ch. IX:

     I received one month's pay in specie while on the march to Virginia, in the year 1781, and except that, I never received any pay worth the name while I belonged to the army.

   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 805:

     ‘It was not money or specie he thought himself hunting!’

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 8:

     “Dick” Counterfly had absquatulated swiftly into the night, leaving his son with only a pocketful of specie and the tender admonition, “Got to ‘scram,’ kid — write if you get work.”

Translations

See also

• payment in kind

Etymology 2

Back-formation from species (plural), the final “s” being misinterpreted as a plural ending.

Noun

specie (plural species)

1. (proscribed) singular of species

Usage notes

• Although in wide use, this is universally considered by prescriptive references to be an error.

Anagrams

• pieces

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin speci?s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?spe?.si/
• Hyphenation: spe?cie
• Rhymes: -e?si

Noun

specie f (plural speciën or species)

1. mortar (in sense of mixture of lime or cement, sand and water)

   Synonyms: metselspecie, mortel

2. coinage, specie, coins
3. material used in casting

Derived terms

• metselspecie

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin speci?s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp?.t??e/
• Rhymes: -?t?e
• Hyphenation: spè?cie

Adverb

specie

1. especially, particularly

Derived terms

• fare specie (“to amaze, shock”)

Noun

specie f (invariable)

1. kind, type, sort
2. (biology) species, strain, breed
3. (taxonomy) species

Related terms

• cronospecie
• speciale
• speciazione
• specifico

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?spe.ki.e?/, [?s?p?kie?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?spe.t??i.e/, [?sp??t??i?]

Noun

speci?

1. ablative singular of speci?s

Preposition

speci?

1. Under the pretext of. Under the guise of.

References

• specie in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin speci?s.

Noun

specie f (plural specii)

1. (biology) species
2. kind, type, sort

See also

• gen
• tip
• fel