colony planet n.

a planet occupied by settlers (or their descendants) from another planet or area, typically under the political control of the parent state

Usually with the implication that the colony planet is underdeveloped, remote, unimportant, etc.

  • 1942 ‘S. D. Gottesman’ Perfect Invasion in Stirring Science Stories Mar. 10/2 page image C. M. Kornbluth bibliography

    I don’t know what it was like before; the usual colony-planet, I suppose, with labor-barracks and factories and semi-detached homes.

  • 1943 ‘H. Clement’ Attitude in Astounding Science-Fiction Sept. 27/2 page image Hal Clement bibliography

    He had been born on Earth but showed plainly a background of several generations on the colony-planet Regulus Six—big bones, dark skin, quick reactions.

  • 1952 F. M. Robinson Girls from Earth in Galaxy Science Fiction Jan. vii. 97/2 page image Frank M. Robinson bibliography

    What danger can a shoplifter do on a colony planet? There’s nothing to steal.

  • 1957 P. J. Farmer Night of Light in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 25/2 page image Philip José Farmer bibliography

    So what if my prints are filed? They won’t be cross-checked; they’ll just be those of some immigrant, who was born on a colony-planet and who is being recorded for the first time.

  • 1978 ‘C. Anvil’ While the North Wind Blows in Amazing Stories Nov. 18/1 page image Christopher Anvil bibliography

    ‘In some ways, it’s just like home. Only there should be more snow, and a lot of salt water.’ ‘A colony planet?’ She said ironically, ‘Just a planet to get rich quick on.’

  • 1981 T. Pratchett Strata 8 page image Terry Pratchett bibliography

    According to the files, they were both from colony planets so new the bedrock had hardly dried, while she was manifestly from Earth.

  • 1997 T. J. King Paladin in Absolute Magnitude Fall–Winter 48/2 page image T. Jackson King bibliography

    He was no longer the simple soyfarm boy from a Third Wave colony planet who’d fallen in love with a high stakes baccarat dealer.

  • 2013 J. Scalzi Human Division x. 275 page image John Scalzi bibliography

    The Phoenix City Hub…aggregated most of the civilian mass transportation for the oldest and most populous city of the oldest and most populous human interstellar colony planet.

  • 2017 ‘J. S. A. Corey’ Persepolis Rising 110 page image Daniel Abraham Ty Franck James S. A. Corey bibliography

    We’ve just taken control of the governor of a colony planet.

Research requirements

antedating 1942
Earliest cite

C. M. Kornbluth, in Stirring Science Stories
Research History
Suggested by Clive Shergold, who also submitted a 1981 cite from Terry Pratchett.

Last modified 2023-08-22 12:57:17
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.