Mythical creatures

[seal43]

What name is given to the mythical creature which is half man & half animal?

I thought it could be centaur... or sphinx... but wonder if there is a name that covers the animal part generally rather than the specific horse or lion that these names mean.

All sugestions gratefully received!

[Ont-ice]

There is also an
Onocentaur - Half man, half donkey
Merman - Half man, half fish.
Satyr - Half man, Half goat.

I'm not aware of the type of word you are looking for. Perhaps another Aber can answer you on that one.

[gen2]

Another possible name is a chimera. The original Chimaera had a lion's head, serpent's tail and goat's body. The term is now used scientifically to represent any organism made up of two genetically distinct tissues.

[crofter]

If you are told it's half man, then that would rule out creatures such as the Minotaur (head of a bull on man's body) and the Sphinx (head of a woman on a lioness' body).

Even Centaur (head of horse replaced by half a man) is not a 50:50 split - and the "taur" base does not agree (bull or horse). As O-ice points out, there's no common rationale I'm afraid!

[maxi2]

Half man and half pig is called a Prescott.

[Salty]

Werewolf?

[seal43]

Many thanks to you all for your suggestions. I'm still not convinced somehow about any of them - I just have a sneaky feeling that the quiz setter is being rather obtuse. He does say that it isn't Buffalo Bill...!