sophont

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σοφός (sophós, “wise”) + ὤν (ṓn, “on”), present participle of εἰμί (eimí, “being, existing, essence”). First used in the 1966 works by Poul Anderson, coined by his wife Karen Anderson.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊfɑnt/

Noun

sophont (plural sophonts)

1. (chiefly science fiction) An intelligent being; a being with a base reasoning capacity roughly equivalent to or greater than that of a human being. The word does not apply to machines unless they have true artificial intelligence, rather than mere processing capacity.
   • 1966, Poul Anderson, Trouble Twisters:

     Likewise with the psychology of intelligent species. Most sophonts indeed possess basic instincts which diverge more or less from man's. With those of radically alien motivations we have little contact.

   • 1980, David Brin, Sundiver, page 50:

     I'm honored to meet a sophont of the Soro line in person!

   • 1992, Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep, Tor Books, page 406:

     Evil, they argued, could only have meaning on smaller scales, in the hurt that one sophont does to another.

   • 1997, Spider Robinson, Lifehouse, Baen Books, page 2:

     Only one sophont appeared to be involved—and not a sophisticated one.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:sentient

References

• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “sophont”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 194.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “sophont”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.

Anagrams

• notophs, photons