sophont

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sophont

/ˈsoʊfɑnt/ US

Where it comes from

From sopho- + -ont. First used in the 1966 works by Poul Anderson, coined by his wife Karen Anderson.

noun sophonts

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. 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.
Similar: sentient

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MLA

"sophont." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sophont. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

sophont. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sophont

Chicago

"sophont." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sophont.

BibTeX

@misc{sophont_2026,
  title = {sophont},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sophont},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}