spirit animal

noun

plural spirit animals

1

: a supernatural being of many distinct Indigenous cultures and traditions that assumes the form of an animal

Don't forget why you walk this path / embrace your spirit animal / your earthly guardian

—Irma Pineda

On the other side of the sculpture, [Abraham Anghik] Ruben explains, he has carved a shaman surrounded by spirit animals—bears, wolves and birds.

—DeNeen L. Brown

"So the goanna is my totem, my tribe totem, and it plays a big part in my culture as well because that's where we come from, and … that is our spirit animal."

—Ryli Johnson, quoted in Gamilaraay Voices

also : such a being as attested by New Age spirituality

Your personal spirit animal is a kind of guardian and protector in the invisible worlds just as in the physical world. A spirit animal is like an invisible friend who takes on the appearance of a mammal, a bird, a reptile, a fish, etc.

—Lucy Harmer

2

often offensive; see usage paragraph below : something or someone (such as an animal or celebrity) that one enjoys and identifies with

Usage of Spirit Animal

The use of spirit animal in sense 2 is often considered an offensive appropriation and trivialization of Indigenous American cultural traditions.

Examples of spirit animal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One character has a pig for a spirit animal. —Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025

Can my spirit animal be a mosquito fish? —R29 Team, Refinery29, 19 Sep. 2025

The mysterious spirit animal messengers that Ji-noo sends, a tiger and a magpie who represent the nobles and commoners of many Korean folk tales, needed to be otherworldly without being fully demonic. —Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1873, in the meaning defined at sense 1