The term "Cryptozoology" was coined by
Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans in his personal correspondence among colleagues in the 1950s, after the 1955
French publication of his book
On the Track of Unknown Animals. The first published use of the word "cryptozoology"
was in 1959 when a book by
Lucien Blancou was dedicated to "
Bernard Heuvelmans, master of cryptozoology." Since 1982, Bernard Heuvelmans has written extensively in the journal Cryptozoology on his current thoughts defining and redefining "cryptozoology."
The word originates from the Greek word "Kryptos" (meaning: hidden, unknown, secret, mysterious) and, of course, "zoology", the study of the Animal Kingdom.
Therefore, cryptozoology is the study of hidden animals (whether large or small), to date not formally recognized by what is often termed Western science or formal zoology but supported in some way by testimony from a human witness.
To list a few of the "animals" that have teased and eluded man over these past few hundred (thousand?) years: