In this illustration by Milo Winter of the Aesop'sfable, The North Wind and the Sun, an anthropomorphic North Wind tries to strip a traveler of his cloak.
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics (or characteristics assumed to belong only to humans) to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s.12 Examples include animals and plants and forces of nature such as winds, rain or the sun depicted as creatures with human motivations, and/or the abilities to reason and converse. The term derives from the combination of the Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos), "human" and μορφή (morphē), "shape" or "form".
As a literary device, anthropomorphism is strongly associated with art and storytelling where it has ancient roots. Most cultures possess a long-standing fable tradition with anthropomorphised animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognised types of human behavior. In contrast to this, such religious doctrines as the Christian Great Chain of Being propound the opposite, anthropocentric belief that animals, plants and non-living things, unlike humans, lack spiritual and mental attributes, immortal souls, and anything other than relatively limited awareness.
nothing lives forever unless the beliefdies in the Anthropomorphism deities!
Something turned into a human-looking character with the accessories themed after thing they were antropomorphisized as. This can involve anything. Most common in anime
Used to describe a fictional animal if the writer chooses to give it the ability to speak and communicate. Wikipedia uses the word "anthropomorphic" for any animal in fiction that has human level intelligence, but you should only use it for animals in fiction that speak.
While most of the time associated with the Furry Interet Sub-Culture, this could be basically applied to anything, such as trees and plants, rocks, general objects such as furniture, and even food.
Art or stories where characters contain a mixture of animal and human characteristics.
Most anthropomorphic characters walk on two legs, speak and often wear clothes. They are fantasy creatures.
They can exist on a spectrum from having almost all animal characteristics, with only a few human traits, or being almost all human with a few animal traits.
Some people in the furry fandom prefer the term anthropomorphic to describe the art, writing and role playing they engage in. It is a more inclusive term, as many anthro characters combine human traits with the traits of non-furry animals, such as lizards, dinosaurs and birds.
Bugs bunny dressed as a girl is anthropomorphic.
His anthropomorphic artwork is mainly about foxes wearing battle armor and set during the dark ages.
Sobek, the Ancient Egyptian god, is anthropomorphic, in that he is a man with a crocodile's head.