Monokeros

Monokeros is a historical term derived from the Greek monos “one” and keras “horn,” meaning “one-horned.” In ancient Greek and later Latin sources, the word was used to describe a unicorn or a unicorn-like creature, typically depicted as possessing a single horn.

Historical usage and sources

Classical writers treated the monokeros as a real or near-real animal encountered in distant lands. Accounts from early Greek and Roman natural historians—such as Ctesias, who described a one-horned beast from India, and Pliny the Elder, who recounted similar traditions—shaped medieval and Renaissance conceptions of the unicorn. Over time, monokeros became a linguistic label associated with the myth of the single-horned animal and was widely featured in bestiaries and heraldic imagery. In these contexts, the creature was often imbued with symbolic meanings, including purity and grace, and its horn was attributed healing properties in folklore.

Modern usage

Today, monokeros is primarily of philological and historical interest, used by scholars to discuss ancient descriptions of the unicorn and the evolution of the creature’s myth. It is not a scientific term for a living species. In contemporary astronomy, a related Latinized form, monoceros, designates the constellation Monoceros, a separate modern usage that symbolizes a horned animal but is not connected to zoological taxonomy.

See also

Unicorn; Monoceros (astronomy). The term monokeros reflects how ancient languages described one-horned beings and how such imagery influenced later cultural traditions.