An animal is a living creature that can move on its own and usually eats organic material, including mammals, birds, fish, insects, and more. In casual speech, people sometimes use it to mean any non-human creature.
From Latin 'animal' meaning 'living being' or 'creature', from 'anima' meaning 'breath' or 'soul'. The original sense emphasized being alive and animated, not just non-human.
Biologically, humans are animals too, but everyday language often pretends we’re separate. The word is built from 'anima', the same root as 'animate' and 'animation'—life is movement.
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