Astronomy and Space

Droid (Star Wars)

In the Star Wars space opera franchise, a droid is a fictional robot possessing some degree of artificial intelligence. The term is a clipped form of "android", a word originally reserved for robots designed to look and act like a human. The word "android" itself stems from the New Latin word "androīdēs", meaning "manlike", itself from the Ancient Greek ἀνδρος (andrós) (genitive of ἀνήρ (anḗr), "man (adult male)" or "human being") + -ειδής (-eidḗs), itself from εἶδος (eîdos, "form, image, shape, appearance, look"). Writer and director George Lucas first used the term "droid" in the second draft script of Star Wars, completed 28 January 1975. However, the word does have a precedent: science fiction writer Mari Wolf used the word in her story "Robots of the World! Arise!" in 1952. It is not known if Lucas knew of this reference when he wrote Star Wars, or if he came up with the term independently. The word "droid" has been a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd since 1977.

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See also

• ▸History of radiation protection
• ▸Centurion (tank)
• ▸Formation of Jupiter

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