Humanoid

The dwarves of Germanic mythology are an example of humanoid beings.

A humanoid (/ˈhjuːmənɔɪd/; from English human and -oid "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of the human skeleton.[1]

Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it is now considered rare.[1] More generally, the term can refer to anything with distinctly human characteristics or adaptations, such as possessing opposable anterior forelimb-appendages (i.e. thumbs), visible spectrum-binocular vision (i.e. having two eyes), or biomechanic plantigrade-bipedalism (i.e. the ability to walk on heels and metatarsals in an upright position). Humanoids may also include human-animal hybrids (where each cell has partly human and partly animal genetic contents) and human-animal chimeras (where some cells are human and some cells are animal in origin).[2] Science fiction media frequently present sentient extraterrestrial lifeforms as humanoid as a byproduct of convergent evolution.

  1. ^ a b "humanoid, n. and adj.". OED Online. Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Rabin S (2006). "The human use of humanoid beings: chimeras and patent law". Nat Biotechnol. 24 (5): 517–9. doi:10.1038/nbt0506-517. PMID 16680130.

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