superman

superman · noun¹

1. German · calque ofÜbermensch
2. English todaysuperman

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.

Superman · proper noun, noun²

From super- + man. Piecewise doublet of Übermensch. The character, created by Jerry Siegel (1914–1996) and Joe Shuster (1914–1992), first appeared in DC Comics’ Action Comics #1 dated June 1938. The ice-cream flavor is named in reference to the red, yellow and blue of the superhero's costume.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 19th c. An imagined superior type of human being representing a new stage of human development; an übermensch; (loosely), a man of extraordinary powers.
• from 20th c. Someone likened to the comics character Superman; a man of seemingly superhuman powers.
• from 1933. A fictional comic-book superhero with superhuman strength and speed, X-ray vision, and the ability to fly.