English
transhuman
From trans- + human, also attested as trans-human in the 1950s.
Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- ‘to cross over, pass through, overcome’
…
Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂ónts
Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂n̥ts
Proto-Italic *trāns ‘across, beyond’
Proto-Italic *trāns-
English trans-
Latin hūmānus ‘of man’
Old French humain
Middle French humain ‘human’
Middle English humaigne
English human
The story
From trans- + human, also attested as trans-human in the 1950s. Attributed to Teilhard de Chardin, as French trans-humain (noun, sometimes capitalised as (le) Trans-humain), who used it alongside ultra-humain (‘the ultra-human’). As a countable English noun (plural transhumans) introduced by F. Esfandiary in the 1960s (here trans- is short for transitional).
Today it means
adj More than human; superhuman.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “transhuman”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / transhuman