Wiktionary

myth

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable”). Attested in English since 1830. Doublet of mythos.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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myth (plural myths)

  1. A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 175:
      Jacobsen's theory about the empty storehouse is still valid, for a myth never has one meaning only; a myth is a polyphonic fugue of many voices.
  2. (uncountable) Such stories as a genre.
    Myth was the product of man's emotion and imagination, acted upon by his surroundings. (E. Clodd, Myths & Dreams (1885), 7, cited after OED)
  3. A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception; a fictitious or imaginary person or thing; a popular conception about a real person or event which exaggerates or idealizes reality.
    Synonym: misconception
    Scientists debunk the myth that gum stays in the human stomach for seven years.
  4. A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend
    Father Flanagan was legendary, his institution an American myth. (Tucson (Arizona) Citizen, 20 September 1979, 5A/3, cited after OED)
  5. A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
    • 1849, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Caxtons:
      As for Mrs. Primmins's bones, they had been myths these twenty years.
    • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Collectors Codex entry:
      Living beyond the Omega-4 mass relay in the Terminus Systems, the mysterious Collector species is glimpsed so rarely as to be taken for a myth by most in galactic society. In reality, Collectors are human-sized insectoid bipeds and can resemble massive winged beetles. They are a terrifying force in the galaxy, responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands.
  6. An invented story, theory, or concept.
    His story is a pure myth.

Derived terms

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Translations

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divine story

See also

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Further reading

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Welsh

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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myth

  1. Nasal mutation of byth.

Mutation

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Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
byth fyth myth unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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