Etymologically
Log in

android

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 02:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈæn.drɔɪd/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin androides,[2][3][4] formed from Greek Ancient Greek ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”), stem andr-, and -ειδής (-eidḗs, “-like”), from εἶδος (eîdos, “form, shape”).[2][3][4] Collins traces it to Late Greek androeidēs “manlike”.[5] It is related to -oid and andro-.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An automaton resembling a human being: 1727–51 in the OED, at first in the Latin form androides.[6][2][3] The English form is from 1837, often of automated chess players.[2]

Semantic evolution

The OED's first edition (1879) listed it as rare;[2] science-fiction writers made it popular from about 1950, as a synthetic human being.[2][3] In anatomy, especially of a pelvis, it means resembling that of a man, from 1886.[6] The Android operating system for smartphones is a trademark.[5]

Timeline

  • 1727 – Latin androides.[2][6]
  • 1837 – android, an automaton.[2]
  • 1886 – resembling a male.[6]
  • c. 1950 – in science fiction.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A robot or synthetic being made to look like a human, especially in science fiction.
  2. (Android) A trademark software system for smartphones, or a phone that uses it.

Adjective

  1. Having human features.

Word family

  • droid

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press