From Middle English creature in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via Old French creature, criature, from Latin creātūra, from creō.

• (RP) enPR: krē'chə, IPA: /ˈkɹiːt͡ʃə/
• (America) enPR: krē'chər, IPA: /ˈkɹiːt͡ʃɚ/
• (archaic) enPR: krē.āʹtyo͝or, IPA: /kɹiːˈeɪtjʊə/

creature (plural creatures)

1. A living being, such as an animal, monster, or alien.

   insects and other creatures

   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds:

     But what would be the sentiment of uppertendom, when it should be rumored that the beautiful young creature, of the proud Clarence Delwood's choice, had stooped so low, as to maintain herself by her own hands?

2. An unidentified, mysterious, and often monstrous animal or being.
3. (sometimes, derogatory) A human.

   He's a creature of habit.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC ↗:

     She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.

4. (now, uncommon, religion) A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.
   • 1633, John Donne, Sapho to Philænis:

     Thoughts, my mindes creatures, often are with thee, / But I, their maker, want their libertie.

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, chapter I, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC ↗, 1st book, page 10 ↗:

     the natural truth of God is an artificial erection of Man, and the Creator himself but a subtile invention of the Creature.

5. A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
   • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

     "You know what I advise," said Mrs. Smith. "Ask Miss Dunstable to advance the money on the same security which the duke holds. She will be as safe then as he is now. And if you can arrange that, stand for the county against him; perhaps you may be beaten."
     "I shouldn't have a chance."
     "But it would show that you are not a creature in the duke's hands. That's my advice," said Mrs. Smith, with much spirit; […]

   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 240:

     they, too, despite the appearance of being creatures rather than creators of the Union, could assert the prior sovereignty of their states, for each had formed a state constitution […] before petitioning Congress for admission to the Union.

• French: créature, être
• German: Wesen, Lebewesen, Fabelwesen (mythical creature)
• Italian: creatura
• Portuguese: criatura
• Russian: существо́
• Spanish: criatura