noosphere

N1O1O1S1P3H4E1R1E1
UK/ˈnəʊ.əsfɪə/Canada, US/ˈnoʊ.əsfɪɚ/

noun

The sphere of human reason, thought, and consciousness, seen as a theoretical evolutionary stage.

UncommonScrabble 14

Meanings

nounnoosphere (plural noospheres)

plural noospheres · alternative noösphere

  1. The sphere of human reason, thought, and consciousness, seen as a theoretical evolutionary stage.

    The noosphere admits human cognition as a part of the environment of the Earth.

    2012 October 4, Esther Inglis-Arkell, “What comes next after the Noosphere?”, in Gizmodo
    4 more examples

    I used to have a pretty clear idea of God. Now we have these new theologians who say God’s inside here not up there or he’s an impersonal noosphere and the anthropomorphic image is out. Three unpersons in one anthropomorphic noosphere.

    1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers, page 573

    Finally, human beings reproduce themselves mentally through exchanges with cultural and symbolic environments[…] These relational exchanges are embedded in the traditions and institutions of a particular society in such a way that that society can reproduce itself on a cultural level, can reproduce itself in the noosphere.

    1995, Ken Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, Shambhala, →ISBN, page 66

    […] Therefore, high capacity nodes will experience greater latency from the rest of the noosphere, and the intelligences that inhabit them will likely be more individualistic.

    2000 November 18, Alexandre Owen Muniz, “Individualism in Transhuman Society.”, in SL4 mailing list, message-ID <3A16FF3F.F030BA6A@xprt.net>

    This creates a pattern of homesteading in the noosphere that rather resembles that of settlers spreading into a physical frontier—not random, but like a diffusion-limited fractal.

    2001 [1999], Eric S. Raymond, “Homesteading the Noosphere”, in The Cathedral and the Bazaar, O'Reilly, →ISBN, page 92

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekσφαῖρα“ball, globe”
  2. Ancient Greekνόος“mind, spirit”
  3. Frenchnoosphère
  4. Englishnoosphere

Borrowed from French noosphère, from Ancient Greek νόος (nóos, “mind, spirit”) + Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “ball, globe”), developed and perhaps coined by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Vladimir Vernadsky, in analogy to atmosphere, biosphere etc. By surface analysis, nous (“mind”) + -sphere.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 心靈空間 /心灵空间
  • 心靈空間 /心灵空间noosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
Estonian noosfäär
  • noosfäärnoosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
French noosphère
  • noosphèrenoosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
German Noosphäre
  • Noosphärenoosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
Greek νοόσφαιρα
  • νοόσφαιρα (noósfaira)noosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
Italian noosfera
  • noosferanoosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
Latvian noosfēra
  • noosfēranoosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
Russian ноосфе́ра
  • ноосфе́ра (noosféra)noosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
Turkish noosfer
  • noosfernoosphere, theoretical stage of evolutionary development
Cite this entry
APA

noosphere. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noosphere

MLA

“noosphere.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noosphere. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “noosphere,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noosphere.

Source: noosphere on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.