Dictionary

animacy en · NOUN

Etymology

From animate + -cy.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The state of being animate (alive or supernaturally seeming alive).
   • These may differ radically in their linguistic animacy, as briefly discussed above, without this having any consequences for their biological animacy. 2011, Seppo Kittilä, Katja Västi, Jussi Ylikoski, Case, Animacy and Semantic Roles, page 6:
2. (uncountable, usually) In some languages, the characteristic of a noun, dependent on its living or sentient nature, which affects grammatical features (it can modify verbs used with the noun, affect the noun's declension, etc.).

Forms

Antonyms

inanimacy

Relateds

inanimate · animate

Synonyms

animation · animateness

Translations (12)

pt animacidade (quality of being animate) · de Belebtheit (quality of being animate) · zh 生命度 (quality of being animate) · zh 有生性 (quality of being animate) · bg одушеве́ност (quality of being animate) · sv animathet (quality of being animate) · fr animacité (quality of being animate) · ru одушевлённость (quality of being animate) · fr animéité (quality of being animate) · ko 생명력 (quality of being animate) · cs životnost (quality of being animate) · fi elollisuus (quality of being animate)