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cryptozoology

/ˌkrɪptəzoʊˈɑlədʒi/
IPA guide

If you’re an expert in cryptozoology, you probably have a whole collection of photos that people claim to have taken of the Yeti or the Loch Ness Monster. You may even have taken some yourself while on vacation in Nepal or Scotland!

Cryptozoology comes from crypto-, meaning "hidden or secret," and zoology, "the study of animals." An expert in cryptozoology is a cryptozoologist. One creature investigated by cryptozoologists is the Sasquatch, a shaggy, humanlike creature supposedly seen in the forests of Canada and the United States. You can find famous photos of it, or of other such creatures, online. Two more words made with crypto- are cryptography, the study of codes or secret writing, and cryptocurrency, money that is "hidden" because it is digital only.

Definitions of cryptozoology
  1. noun
    the study of possible evidence for creatures such as the Yeti, Sasquatch, or Loch Ness Monster, whose existence has not been proven
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