Full record for humanoid adj.

Definition of a robot or alien that is of human form
OED requirements antedating 1944
Earliest cite Isaac Asimov 'Evidence'
Comment The OED has cites for "humanoid" as an adjective with the sense "distinguished from anthropoid as being more human in character" back to 1918. The first cite as a term in sf is from 1952.

Rick Hauptmann submitted a cite from the 1965 first edition of Poul Anderson's "Agent of the Terran Empire".
Imran Ghory submitted a cite from a 1995 reprint of Isaac Asimov's "Evidence"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1946 first appearance.
Mark Olson submitted a cite from a 1953 reprint of John Campbell's "The Black Star Passes"; however Andrew May checked the 1930 first appearance and the word does not appear in that version. Fred Galvin submitted a different cite from a reprint of the same story, "The Black Star Passes"; but Andrew May determined that the cite also was not in the original 1930 magazine appearance.
Patrick Broadhurst submitted a cite from a 1982 reprint of "Culture" by Jerry Shelton: Mike Christie verified it in the 1944 original publication.
Fred Galvin submitted cites from a 1974 reprint of Asimov's "Homo Sol": we would like to verify them in the story's first magazine appearance (Astounding, September 1940)

Last modified 3 June, 2009

Citations for humanoid adj.

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1940 Astounding Sci. Fiction Sept. 118/1 Beings of every manlike type and shape were there. Some were tall and polelike, some broad and burly, some short and stumpy. There were those with long, wiry hair, those with scanty gray fuzz covering head and face, others with thick, blond curls piled high, and still others entirely bald. Some possessed long, hair-covered trumpets of ears, others had tympanum membranes flush with their temples. There were those present with large gazellelike eyes of a deep-purple luminosity, others with tiny optics of a beady black. There was a delegate with green skin, one with an eight-inch proboscis and one with a vestigial tail. Internally, variation was almost infinite. But all were alike in two things. They were all Humanoid. They all possessed intelligence.
1940 Astounding Sci. Fiction Sept. 130/1 And I hope these learned gentlemen still react in a vaguely Humanoid way.
1944 J. Shelton Culture in Astounding Sci. Fiction Sept. 46/1 I admit that it is decidedly a departure from the norm for a humanoid race to not appear interested in gainful trade—or acceptance of gifts.
1953 J. W. Campbell Black Star Passes 165 Taj Lamor was not human. Though he was humanoid, Earth had never seen creatures just like him.
1953 A. Norton Star Rangers xv. 195 But that is a humanoid characteristic, I believe.
1954 C. Oliver Field Expedient in W. F. Nolan Edge of Forever (1971) 141 The ship carried two pilots, a navigator, a doctor, fifty babies, twenty-five special humanoid robots, computers, and supplies.
1965 P. Anderson Agent of Terran Empire 1 The chilling realization came that he was not aboard a human ship. Humanoid, yes, from the size and design of things, but no vessel ever built within the borders of the Empire, and no foreign make that he knew of.
1968 G. Coon Arena in J. Blish Star Trek 2 (1968) 2 At the same time a humanoid voice, strong and yet somehow youthful, shook the air of the bridge.
1970 J. Blish Spock must Die! iii. 16 He‥personally know Ayelborne, Claymare and Trefayne—or at least knows the humanoid shapes they assume.
1971 W. F. Nolan Edge of Forever 25 In the novel Chad's hero runs into humanoid aliens during his fishing jaunt in Colorado, and agrees to help them find a way back to their home planet.
1972 J. Blish Star Trek 8 1 Instruments indicate a transferal beam emanating from the humanoid life form.
1979 B. A. Freitas, Jr. Illegal Aliens in O. Davis Omni Bk. of Space 301 A humanoid figure appears in shadowy silhouette.
1980 D. Brin Sundiver i.iii. 30 It was humanoid, standing at least two meters tall.
1989 J. M. Dillard Lost Years xv. 299 She was humanoid.
1990 J. Tiptree, Jr. Color of Neanderthal Eyes 2 His notes in the Ephemeris say that there are humanoid natives‥on the other side of the planet from me.
1994 D. Spencer Passing Fancy xii. 161 Figure a humanoid body is, what, ninety percent water, something like that?
1995 D. M. Flinn Fearful Summons 3 Some of which have developed a fairly complex form of communication. But nothing humanoid.
1997 J. Sherman & S. Shwartz Vulcan's Forge i. 2 Obsidian's people‥were‥.Humanoid, with sharp features, dusky-olive skin.
1998 G. Cox Assignment: Eternity Prologue 3 Dozens of delegates, humanoid and otherwise, shouted and cried out as they fought each other to reach the exits.
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