bestiary
/ˈbiːstiˌɛɹi/ noun
Forms bestiaries
- noun A medieval treatise of various real or imaginary animals.
- noun A collection of various beasts, depicted in art, literature, or the like.
- noun (gaming) A list or guidebook of the monsters to be found in a roleplaying game.
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin bēstiārium, from Latin bēstia (“beast, animal”). By surface analysis, beast + -ary.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A treatise on beasts; esp., one of the moralizing or allegorical beast tales written in the Middle Ages.
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bestiary”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details