myth
Pronunciation: /mɪθ/
The English word “myth” has 6 meanings listed here.
noun
- 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.
- Such stories as a genre.
- 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.
- A person or thing held in excessive or quasi-religious awe or admiration based on popular legend
- A person or thing existing only in imagination, or whose actual existence is not verifiable.
- An invented story, theory, or concept.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “word, humour, companion, speech, account, rumour, fable”). Attested in English since 1830. Doublet of mythos.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.