Relating to Earth or the planet's land and soil, or in science fiction, referring to humans or Earth-origin species.
From Latin 'terra,' meaning 'earth' or 'land,' which comes from Indo-European roots relating to dryness and firmness. The word gained modern sci-fi popularity through works like StarCraft and Warhammer 40K.
The root 'terra' appears everywhere—terrain, terrestrial, Mediterranean (literally 'middle of Earth')—and in science fiction, calling humans 'Terrans' makes them sound like just one species among many alien civilizations, which is a subtle but clever way to challenge how special we think we are!
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