superhuman

Etymology

It is formed from English super- + human,^[2][3] and the OED compares Late Latin superhūmānus (“more than a human can bear”), recorded of pain in the 5th century.^[2] Hoad, the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford give that Latin word as the source, calling it Late Latin;^[4][5][6] Etymonline calls it Medieval Latin,^[7] and Dictionary.com New Latin.^[8] Parallel formations are French surhumain (1555), Spanish sobrehumano (1528), Italian sovrumano (1532) and Portuguese sobrehumano (1664).^[2] The use of the noun for a superman translates German Übermensch.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a quality or action, higher than that of a human; beyond human capacity or power: 1599, in R. Tofte's translation of E. Tasso's Of Mariage and Wiuing.^[2] Merriam-Webster also dates it to 1599;^[3] Etymonline dates it to the 1630s,^[7] and Dictionary.com to 1625–35.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From 1612, in Shelton's translation of Don Quixote, the word was used of persons or beings with a nature above the human,^[2] and Etymonline notes that in early use it often meant divine.^[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as above the nature or power of man.^[9] By about 1800 it was used, and has since typically been used, of what is above human powers,^[7] while before 1629 it was already applied in praise or exaggeration to anything extraordinary or exceptional.^[2] The noun came in the 19th century: the superhuman for superhuman qualities collectively from 1819, and a superhuman for a superhuman being, a superman or superwoman, from 1824.^[2]

Timeline

• 1599 – of a quality or action, higher than human; beyond human power.^[2][3]
• 1612 – of a person or being, more than human.^[2]
• before 1629 – extraordinary, exceptional, as a hyperbole.^[2]
• 1819 – noun, the superhuman, superhuman qualities collectively.^[2]
• 1824 – noun, a superhuman being.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Above or beyond the human; supernatural or divine: the superhuman figures of the old myths.^[10][3][2]
2. Beyond ordinary human ability, strength or experience; extraordinary: It took a superhuman effort to finish the climb.^{[10][3][11][2]}

Noun

1. A superhuman being; a superman or superwoman.^[2][3][6]
2. the superhuman: superhuman qualities or things as a whole.^[2]

Word family

• superhumanity
• superhumanly
• superhumanness
• superhumanize

Related words

• inhuman
• nonhuman
• unhuman
• superman
• human
• humane
• supernatural

References

1. ^ a b 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 f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins