Martians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Imagined intelligent beings from the planet Mars ; creatures from the red planet portrayed in stories and films
2. Hypothetical native life forms of Mars ; invented extraterrestrial characters originating on the fourth planet from the sun
3. People or creatures said to come from Mars, whether real or imagined ; fictional alien visitors from the red planet in popular culture

Etymology: "Martians" is the plural of "martian", so it names more than one inhabitant of the planet Mars, or more than one such creature in fiction. The base word, "martian", is formed from "Mars", the Roman god of war, whose name gave the planet its title, combined with the adjectival suffix "-ian", which denotes belonging to or relating to something. Because the singular is the form that does the real work, the plural simply follows the regular English pattern of adding "-s". Its meaning is therefore the same as the singular, extended to a group of beings imagined on or from the red planet.

Synonyms: extraterrestrial, alien