tellurian means of or relating to the earth; (specifically, chiefly science fiction) inhabiting planet Earth as opposed to other planets. It carries an Arena rating of 1513, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, tellurian ranks #1,890 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,268 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,037 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #3,404 of 17,151 for The Improbable.
tellurian is pronounced /tɛˈljʊə.ɹɪ.ən/.
Why “tellurian” is a great word
Of, relating to, or characteristic of the planet Earth, especially its inhabitants or its composition as a rocky, terrestrial body. From Latin tellūs ("earth, ground; the globe, planet Earth"), from Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- ("ground, bottom"), with the English suffix -ian ("related to" or "one belonging to"), first recorded in English use 1780–90. Unlike "terrestrial," which catalogues ecosystems and planets, or "earthling," a colloquial label for a sci-fi extra, *tellurian* speaks to a poetic and formal belonging. It is the scent of rain on sun-baked soil, the weight of a hand resting on granite, and the quiet hum of life beneath tectonic slumber—a word for the profound, inescapable fact of home, spoken from within the very dust it describes.
Etymology
From Latin tellūs (“earth, ground; the globe, planet Earth; country, land”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“ground, bottom”), + -ian (suffix meaning "from, related to, or like" when forming an adjective, or "one from, belonging to, relating to, or like" when forming a noun).
adj
- Of or relating to the earth; (specifically, chiefly science fiction) inhabiting planet Earth as opposed to other planets.
- Of a planet, being composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals; see also terrestrial planet.
- Of a mineral: containing tellurium.e.g.“The tellurian mineral from Goldfield, Nevada, described originally as goldfieldite by Ransome (1909), was proven to be tellurian tennantite by X-ray powder diffraction (Thompson 1946).” — 1986, Katsuo Kase, “Tellurian Tennantite from the Besshi-type Deposits in the Sambagawa Metamorphic Belt, Japan”, in The Canadian Mineralogist, volume 24, number 2, page 400, column 1:
noun
- An inhabitant of the Earth.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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