noun.
An ancestral spirit worshiped as a protecting household deity by the pagan Malay peoples of the Philippine Islands, and frequently represented by an image of wood or other material which is carefully preserved.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
In Guam and the Philippines, an idol, fetich, or spirit.
Word Usage
"Now, with their new religious ideas, the Tagáls apply the term anito to any superstition, false worship, idol, etc."