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extraterrestrial

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Etymology and origin of the English word extraterrestrial

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1812 John Thelwall, Pegasus O'erladen
Ultimate origin
Latin terra
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin terra
French terre
Italian terra
Latin terrestris
English terrestrial
English extraterrestrial
From the same root
Latin interro ← terra
Latin mediterraneus ← terra
Latin terrenus ← terra
Latin terrigena ← terra
French enterrer ← terre

Pronunciation

  • /ˌɛk.stɹə.təˈɹɛs.tɹi.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English extra- + terrestrial,[2][3][4][5][6] and is also written with a hyphen.[3] The prefix represents Latin extrā (“on the outside, without”),[3] and the adjective goes back to terrestris (“earthly, of the earth”), from terra (“earth”), from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“to dry”).[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Existing, occurring or originating beyond the earth: 1812, in John Thelwall's Pegasus O'erladen.[2][3] Merriam-Webster dates the adjective to 1848, Barnhart to 1868 and Dictionary.com to 1865–70.[5][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective came to be used especially of life forms and spacecraft from other planets, and of things relating to such life.[2] As a noun, a being from beyond the earth, it appears in 1939 in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction;[2] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1950 and Etymonline to 1956,[5][3] and Collins still treats it as a science-fiction term.[8]

Timeline

  • 1812 – existing or originating beyond the earth.[2][3] Merriam-Webster dates the adjective to 1848 and Barnhart to 1868.[5][4]
  • 1939 – noun, a being from beyond the earth.[2] Merriam-Webster dates the noun to 1950 and Etymonline to 1956.[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Originating, existing or occurring outside the earth or its atmosphere: a probe looking for extraterrestrial microbes.[7][5][8][2]

Noun

  1. A being or life form from beyond the earth, especially an intelligent one, as in science fiction.[7][5][8][2]

Word family

  • extraterrestrially

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Extraterrestrial.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/extraterrestrial. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·