noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The Mesoamerican belief that certain human beings can transform into animals. uncountable

Etymology

From nahual + -ism. The first element is from Nahuatl nahualli (“sorcerer, spirit, animal form a person may take”).

Related phrases

human being

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.