superman

See also: Superman and supermán

English

WOTD – 26 October 2016

Etymology

A calque of German Übermensch; super- +‎ man. The German word was introduced by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) in his work Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1883), and rendered in English as superman by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) in the play Man and Superman (1903) and by Thomas Common (1850–1919) in his 1909 translation of Nietzsche’s work.

The “person of extraordinary powers” sense was reinforced by the DC Comics’ character Superman, who first appeared in Action Comics #1 dated June 1938.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈs(j)uːpəmæn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsupɚmæn/

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: su‧per‧man

Noun

superman (plural supermen)

1. (chiefly philosophy) An imagined superior type of human being representing a new stage of human development; an übermensch; (loosely), a man of extraordinary powers. [from 19th c.]

   Nietzsche wrote of the coming of the superman.

   • 1901–1903, John Tanner [pseudonym; George Bernard Shaw], “[The Revolutionist’s Handbook and Pocket Companion] Man’s Objection to His Own Improvement”, in Man and Superman. […], Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1903, →OCLC, page 194:

     Man does desire an ideal Superman with such energy as he can spare from his nutrition, and has in every age magnified the best living substitute for it he can find.

   • 1909, Friedrich Nietzsche; Thomas Common, transl., “Zarathustra's Prologue”, in Thus Spake Zarathustra, New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, [1940s?], OCLC 11993131, page 6:

     What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame.

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "Well, what is it that he does that I don't do? Just say the word, - teetotal, vegetarian, aeronaut, theosophist, superman."

   • 1931, P[yotr] D[emianovich] Ouspensky, “Superman”, in R[eginald] R. Merton, transl., A New Model of the Universe, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC, page 113:

     Heroes of myths, Titans, demi-gods, Prometheus, who brought fire from heaven; prophets, messiahs and saints of all religions; heroes of fairy tales and epic songs, knights who rescue captive princesses, awake sleeping beauties, vanquish dragons, and fight giants and ogres—all these are images of a superman.

   • 2016, A Study Guide for Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” (Novels for Students), Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale; Cengage Learning, →ISBN:

     Early in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov has become obsessed with the notion that he himself is a "superman." Therefore, he thinks, he is not subject to the laws that govern ordinary people.

2. Someone likened to the comics character Superman; a man of seemingly superhuman powers. [from 20th c.]
   • 1941 December, Kenneth Brown, “The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 533:

     By the latter part of 1848, the throne of Hudson the Railway King who had been called in in 1845 as a superman to save the Eastern Counties Railway, was tottering to its fall, [...].

   • 2010 August, A[lex] E[chevarria] Roman, chapter 25, in The Superman Project: A Chico Santana Mystery, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 218:

     I wanted someone whose income combined with mine could afford us a family, an apartment, a car, and all the travel, luxury, and fun we could possibly tolerate. I wanted a Superman.

   • 2016, Patrick J. Reider, “How Batman Cowed a God”, in Nicolas Michaud, editor, Batman, Superman, and Philosophy: Badass or Boyscout? (Popular Culture and Philosophy; 100), Chicago, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company, →ISBN:

     What type of human weakness might a being of unfathomable power—a superman—inadvertently expose to the keen analytic mind of an avenging dark knight?

   • 2025 July 8, Brandon Smith, “Do They Deserve It? Mexico Is Collapsing As The US Deports Illegals Back Home”, in Alt-Market.us‎^[1]:

     Didn’t they tell us we needed illegals to help build more houses to counter the housing shortage in the US? Why don’t they put all these returning construction supermen to work in Mexico?.

Alternative forms

• Superman

Antonyms

• netherman

Derived terms

• supermanhood
• supermanly
• supermannish
• superman punch
• supermanship

Translations

übermensch

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: звышчалавек m (zvyščalavjek), надчалавек m (nadčalavjek)
• Bulgarian: свръхчовек m (svrăhčovek)
• Catalan: superhome m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 超人 (zh) (chāorén)

• Czech: nadčlověk m
• Esperanto: superhomo
• Finnish: yli-ihminen (fi)
• French: surhomme (fr) m
• German: Übermensch (de) m
• Greek: αρχηγός (el) (archigós), υπεράνθρωπος (el) m (yperánthropos)
• Hindi: अतिमानव (hi) (atimānav)
• Irish: osduine m
• Japanese: 超人 (ja) (ちょうじん, chōjin)
• Kazakh: астам адам (astam adam)
• Korean: 초인(超人) (ko) (choin)
• Macedonian: натчовек m (natčovek)
• Mingrelian: ზეადამიანი (zeadamiani)
• Polish: nadczłowiek (pl) m
• Portuguese: super-homem (pt) m
• Russian: сверхчелове́к (ru) m (sverxčelovék)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: надчовек m, натчовек m

  Latin: nadčovek m, natčovek (sh) m

• Spanish: superhombre (es) m
• Tagalog: higtao
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: siêu nhân (vi) (超人)

person of extraordinary or superhuman powers

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: супермэн m (supjermen), супермен m (supjermjen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 超人 (zh) (chāorén)

• Czech: superman m
• Dutch: superman (nl)
• Finnish: teräsmies (fi), supermies (fi)
• French: superman (fr) m
• German: Supermann (de) m
• Greek: υπεράνθρωπος (el) m (yperánthropos)
• Hindi: अतिमानव (hi) (atimānav)
• Japanese: 超人 (ja) (ちょうじん, chōjin)
• Khmer: កំពូលមនុស្ស (kom pul mo nus)
• Korean: 초인(超人) (ko) (choin)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: superman (ku) m, supermêr f, supermirov m or f, superjin f

• Macedonian: натчовек m (natčovek)
• Polish: superman (pl) m
• Portuguese: super-homem (pt) m
• Russian: суперме́н (ru) m (supermɛ́n), сверхчелове́к (ru) m (sverxčelovék)
• Spanish: supermán m
• Tagalog: higtao
• Vietnamese: siêu nhân (vi) (超人)

See also

• superwoman

Further reading

• Nietzsche's Übermensch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• superman on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “superman”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• manpurse, per nasum

Czech

Etymology

Derived from English superman.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsupɛrman]

Noun

superman m anim

1. superman

Declension

Declension of superman (hard masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	superman	supermani
genitive	supermana	supermanů
dative	supermanovi, supermanu	supermanům
accusative	supermana	supermany
vocative	supermane	supermani
locative	supermanovi, supermanu	supermanech
instrumental	supermanem	supermany

See also

• nadčlověk
• superhrdina

Further reading

• “superman”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “superman”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “superman”, in Akademický slovník cizích slov at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz [Academic dictionary of foreign words] (in Czech), 1995

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English superman.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy.pɛʁ.man/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

superman m (plural supermans)

1. (philosophy) superman
2. superman (man with superpowers)

See also

• superwoman, superfemme, surfemme
• surhomme

Further reading

• “superman”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English superman, from super- +‎ man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsu.per.mɛn/, /ˈsu.per.man/, /ˈsu.per.men/, /su.perˈmɛn/
• Rhymes: -upermɛn, -uperman, -upermen, -ɛn
• Hyphenation: sù‧per‧man

Noun

superman m (invariable)

1. superman

Malay

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English superman.

Pronunciation

• (Southern Peninsular Malaysia Standard) IPA^(key): /ˌsupə(r)ˈmen/ [ˌsu.pə(r)ˈmen]
• Hyphenation: su‧per‧man

Noun

superman (uncountable)

1. (Malaysia, rempit slang) lying flat on the stomach when riding the motorcycle

   Coordinate terms: tunduk udang, wikang

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English superman.

Noun

superman m (plural supermeni)

1. superman

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	superman	supermanul	supermeni	supermenii
genitive-dative	superman	supermanului	supermeni	supermenilor
vocative	supermanule		supermenilor