A creature or person that is half human and half something else; a human hybrid or mythological being of mixed nature.
From 'half' + 'man' (Old English 'mann'). This compound emerged in folklore and mythology to describe hybrid creatures like satyrs or centaurs that combine human and non-human characteristics.
Every mythology has halfmans—centaurs, minotaurs, merfolk—because humans are fascinated by boundary-crossing creatures that blur our categories. The language we use to name them (half + man) shows how fundamental the 'half' concept is to imagining otherness.
Uses 'man' as generic human in compound form, reflecting older convention where 'man' was default for persons of unspecified gender. Modern usage increasingly disambiguates between 'man' (male adult) and 'person/human.'
Use 'halfperson' or context-specific term. 'Halfman' reads as specifically male in contemporary English.
["halfperson","half-human","demi-human"]
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