Sophont: an uplifting word

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σοφός (sophós, “wise”) + ὤν (ṓn, “on”), present participle of εἰμί (eimí, “being, existing, essence”). First used in the 1966 works by Poul Anderson, coined by his wife Karen Anderson.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊfɑnt/

Noun

sophont (plural sophonts)

1. (chiefly science fiction) An intelligent being; a being with a base reasoning capacity roughly equivalent to or greater than that of a human being. The word does not apply to machines unless they have true artificial intelligence, rather than mere processing capacity. quotations ▼

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:sentient

References

• “sophont” in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford University Press, 2007, →ISBN, page 194.
• sophont at the OED Science Fiction Citations Project