It has cognates in Baltic (Old Prussian zmūi), Germanic (Gothic guma) and Celtic (Old Irish duine).

This is comparable to the Semitic word for 'man', represented by Arabic insan إنسان (cognate with Hebrew ʼenōš אֱנוֹשׁ‬), from a root for 'sick, mortal'.

[6] The Chinese character used in East Asian languages is 人, originating as a pictogram of a human being.

[citation needed] The mixture of serious and tongue-in-cheek self-designation originates with Plato, who on one hand defined man taxonomically as a "featherless biped",[8][9] and on the other as ζῷον πολιτικόν (zōon politikon), as "political" or "state-building animal" (Aristotle's term, based on Plato's Statesman).

[11] The following names mimic binomial nomenclature, mostly consisting of Homo followed by a Latin adjective characterizing human nature.

In science fiction, Earthling (also Terran, Earther, and Gaian) is frequently used, as it were naming humanity by its planet of origin.