humanoid

Etymology

It is formed from English human + -oid.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Etymonline calls it an anthropological hybrid,^[6] and Klein explains it as a hybrid of Latin hūmānus (“human”) and Ancient Greek -οειδής (-oeidḗs, “like”), from εἶδος (eîdos, “form, shape”).^[7] The OED compares the earlier human-like and humaniform,^[2] the latter recorded from the 1540s.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, an evolutionary precursor of humans, a hominid: 1870, in A. J. Davis's The Fountain.^[2] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1871,^[6] Merriam-Webster to 1918,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1915–20.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word began in anthropology and evolutionary theory, for the precursors of humans as distinguished from the apes and their precursors (compare anthropoid); this use is now rare.^[2][3] From 1914 the adjective also meant simply having human form or human characteristics.^[2] In 1906 Humanoid was the brand name of a cow's milk altered to be closer to human milk, for feeding infants.^[6] Science fiction made the noun common: from 1940, in the magazine Astounding Science-fiction, a humanoid was an alien being shaped like a human,^[2] and the word is now used chiefly of such beings and of robots that resemble humans.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1870 – noun, an evolutionary precursor of humans, a hominid (now rare).^[2]
• 1906 – Humanoid, the brand name of a modified cow's milk for infants.^[6]
• 1912 – adjective, of the precursors of humans as distinct from the apes (now rare).^[2]
• 1914 – having human form or characteristics.^[2]
• 1925 – noun, a humanoid being.^[6]
• 1940 – in science fiction, an alien being of human form.^[2]
• 1944 – adjective, in science fiction, of humanoids.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Resembling a human being in appearance or character: a humanoid figure carved from driftwood.^[8][9][2]
2. (science fiction) Of or relating to humanoids: humanoid aliens.^[2][9]
3. (anthropology, now rare) Having human rather than anthropoid characteristics; of the evolutionary precursors of humans.^[3][2]

Noun

1. (science fiction) A being or robot that resembles a human: The ship's crew were all humanoids.^[8][9][2]
2. (now rare) A being with human rather than anthropoid characteristics; a hominid.^[8][3][2]

Related words

• human
• anthropoid
• hominid

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press