earthborn adj.

originating on Earth, as opposed to outer space or another celestial body

  • 1900 G. Griffith A Visit to the Moon in Pearson’s Magazine Jan. 29/2 George Griffith bibliography

    There, that is Malapert. It is almost exactly at the south pole of the moon, and there—is the horizon of the hemisphere which no earthborn eyes but ours and Murgatroyd’s have ever seen.

  • 1932 ‘T. D. Gardner’ The Last Woman in Wonder Stories Apr. 1240/2 page image Thomas S. Gardner bibliography

    Pardon me, I had forgotten. A. D. was the abbreviation of two words Anno Domini. They referred to the supposed birth of one of the gods in one of the primitive religions, just which one I am not sure since several claimed the Earth-born god as their own.

  • 1940 M. Jameson Quicksands of Youthwardness in Astonishing Stories Oct. 22/1 page image Malcolm Jameson

    ‘Never mind those,’ said their guide, rather contemptuously, ‘being Earthborn you are in a favored class.’

  • 1949 I. Asimov Mother Earth in Astounding Science Fiction May 91/1 Isaac Asimov

    The Outer Worlders exist as they do, only because pieces of Earth have been transplanted. Soil has been brought out there; plants; animals; men. They keep themselves surrounded by an artificial Earth-born geology which has within it, for instance, those traces of cobalt, zinc, and copper which human chemistry must have. They surround themselves by Earth-born bacteria and algae which have the ability to make those inorganic traces available in just the right way and in just the right quantity.

  • 1953 G. R. Dickson Bleak and Barren Land in Space Stories Feb. 89/1 Gordon R. Dickson

    Letting five hundred Earth-born humans into Modor to settle on the barren land was a fool’s trick, and a flat outrage of a sort of unwritten agreement that had existed for over two hundred years between Modorians and humans, ever since the first ship had landed, in fact.

  • 1960 A. E. Nourse Nine Planets 192 Alan E. Nourse

    Nothing draws men like the search for treasure, and the asteroids may turn out to be a treasure trove to surpass the wildest dreams of an Earth-born prospector.

  • 1961 E. Hamilton City at World's End xii. 90 Edmond Hamilton

    We are Earth-born.

  • 1979 K. O’Donnell Mayflies 103

    Dwelling there is no logistical problem: it has facilities for eating, sleeping, excreting, and cleaning, because the designers expected its attached observatory to be used heavily. Cynical memory banks tell us that she is the first to enter on a regular basis since the Earth-born passengers died.

  • 1991 O. S. Card Xenocide ii. 22 Orson Scott Card

    It’s getting into the Earthborn crops that humans need in order to survive on Lusitania.

  • 1993 K. S. Robinson Green Mars (new ed.) 439 Kim Stanley Robinson

    So now, as the grinning Earthborn hydrologists showed her as she stepped into an observation gallery cut into the side of the lava tube…

  • 2015 E. Colfer Forever Man iii. 55 page image Eoin Colfer bibliography

    On Garrick’s last immersion, he had gone deeper than any earthborn being ever had, apart from a prehistoric earthworm who had entered through a rift brought on by a major volcanic eruption, which happened to coincide with extreme levels of solar radiation.

Research requirements

antedating 1900
Earliest cite

George Griffith, 'A Honeymoon in Space'
Research History
Ralf Brown submitted cites from the 1900 serialization of George Griffith's "A Honeymoon in Space"
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1951 reprint of Isaac Asimov's "Mother Earth", which Mike Christie verified in the 1949 first publication.
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1974 reprint of Gordon Dickson's "The Bleak and Barren Land", which Mike Christie verified in the 1953 first publication.
Karen Holland submitted a 1979 cite for "earth-born" from Kevin O'Donnell Jr's "Mayflies",
Fred Galvin submitted a cite for "Earth-born" from a 1961 reprint of Edmond Hamilton's 1950 story "The City at World's End"
Fred Galvin submitted a 1932 cite from "The Last Woman", by Thomas D. Gardner.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1960 cite from Alan E. Nourse's "Nine Planets".
Bee Ostrowsky submitted a 2015 cite from Eoin Colfer.

OED's current definition is "Born on the earth; of earthly or mortal race, as opposed to angelic or divine."

Last modified 2024-11-17 00:09:25
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.