Unicorn facts for kids

A girl with a unicorn, by Domenichino, about 1602.

Statue of a unicorn on a roadside in Ireland

A unicorn is a legendary and mythical creature. It looks like a pony with one long, single and white horn on its head. The word unicorn means literally "one-horn". It comes from the Latin word ūnus, which means one, and cornu which means horn, which term is in itself borrowed from the earlier Greek word monokerōs (also 'one horned').

Unicorns are found in many stories and myths from different parts of the world, especially China and India. Its blood and horn usually have mystical powers. In Western culture, its horn is said to have power (often called alicorn in medieval literature) to heal wounds and sickness, and to neutralize poison.

In mythology and heraldry unicorn symbolizes innocence, purity and feminine power. It is often seen as the counterpart of lion, which symbolizes the masculine virtues.

The unicorn is the official animal of Scotland.

In some pictures unicorns also have horses feet or a lion's tail.

A Narwhal is an animal that is about 8 feet long. They live in the water around Canada and Greenland. Narwhal’s horns were said to be the horns of unicorns by some. People would sell the horn of a narwhal to others and say it was a horn of a unicorn. Christian legends say the Unicorn is as small as a normal sized goat. They are so fearful that no hunter can catch them. Only a maiden that goes into the forest alone can catch a unicorn. The unicorn will come and fall asleep in the maiden’s lap. Around the time of the Middle Ages, some stories of unicorns became more popular. More people got in to learning about unicorns. They would even just want to see a picture of them. People with royal blood, or others of high class, bought what were said to be the horns of a unicorn at very high prices. They were mostly a tusk of a walrus or a horn from a narwhal.

The term unicorn is also used in business to refer to a business startup valued at a billion dollars or more.

Images for kids

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  Of the Unicorn

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  Unicorn seal of Indus Valley, Indian Museum

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  Gilt statue of a unicorn on the Council House, Bristol

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  Youths riding goats (a Dionysiac motif in antiquity) on 12th-century capitals from the abbey of Mozac in the Auvergne. The goats are indistinguishable from unicorns.

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  Virgin Mary holding the unicorn (c. 1480), detail of the Annunciation with the Unicorn Polyptych, National Museum, Warsaw

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  Wild woman with unicorn, c. 1500–1510 (Basel Historical Museum)

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  A Unicorn of the 18th century on an apothecary in Flensburg

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  Maiden with Unicorn, tapestry, 15th century (Musée de Cluny, Paris)

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  The Unicorn Is Penned, Unicorn Tapestries, c. 1495–1505 (The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)

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  The unicorn throne in Denmark.

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  Otto von Guericke's unicorn skeleton, exhibit near the Zoo, Osnabrück

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  Indus valley seals showing 'unicorns' (British Museum)

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  The elasmotherium

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  Male narwhal.

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  One-horned oryx.

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  The eland.

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  The aurochs

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  Unicorn mosaic on a 1213 church floor in Ravenna

See also

In Spanish: Unicornio para niños