mythical monster, mythical creature

a monster renowned in folklore and myth

• legendary creature — unverifiable but popularly accepted as possibly factual
• amphisbaena — (classical mythology) a serpent with a head at each end of its body
• basilisk — (classical mythology) a serpent (or lizard or dragon) able to kill with its breath or glance
• centaur — (classical mythology) a mythical being that is half man and half horse
• Cerberus — (Greek mythology) 3-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades; son of Typhon
• Chimera, Chimaera — (Greek mythology) fire-breathing she-monster with a lion's head and a goat's body and a serpent's tail; daughter of Typhon
• cockatrice — monster hatched by a reptile from a cock's egg; able to kill with a glance
• dragon, firedrake — a creature of Teutonic mythology; usually represented as breathing fire and having a reptilian body and sometimes wings
• Geryon — (Greek mythology) a mythical monster with three heads that was slain by Hercules
• Gorgon — (Greek mythology) any of three winged sister monsters having live snakes for hair; a glance turns the beholder to stone
• gryphon, griffin — winged monster with an eagle-like head and body of a lion
• Harpy — (Greek mythology) vicious winged monster; often depicted as a bird with the head of a woman
• Hydra — (Greek mythology) monster with nine heads; when struck off each head was replaced by two new ones
• leviathan — monstrous sea creature symbolizing evil in the Old Testament
• manticore, mantichora, manticora, mantiger — a mythical monster having the head of man (with horns) and the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion
• Minotaur — (Greek mythology) a mythical monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man; slain by Theseus
• Nemean lion — (Greek mythology) an enormous lion strangled by Hercules as the first of his 12 labors
• Python — (Greek mythology) dragon killed by Apollo at Delphi
• roc — mythical bird of prey having enormous size and strength
• salamander — reptilian creature supposed to live in fire
• Sphinx — (Greek mythology) a riddling winged monster with a woman's head and breast on a lion's body; daughter of Typhon
• troll — (Scandinavian folklore) a supernatural creature (either a dwarf or a giant) that is supposed to live in caves or in the mountains
• Typhoeus — (Greek mythology) son of Gaea and Tartarus who created the whirlwinds; had a terrifying voice and 100 dragon heads that spurted fire
• Typhon — (Greek mythology) a monster with a hundred heads and one of the whirlwinds; son of Typhoeus and Echidna; father of Cerberus and the Chimera and the Sphinx
• werewolf, wolfman, lycanthrope — a monster able to change appearance from human to wolf
• Fury, Eumenides, Erinyes — (classical mythology) the hideous snake-haired monsters (usually three in number) who pursued unpunished criminals

• mythical being — an imaginary being of myth or fable
• monster — an imaginary creature usually having various human and animal parts