humanoides

Humanoides refers to beings or forms that resemble humans in overall body plan. Etymologically, it derives from the Latin humanus ("human") and the suffix -oid ("like"), and is widely used in Spanish and Portuguese to describe human-like figures. The term is not a taxonomic category, but a descriptive one applied across disciplines to denote similarities with the human form.

In biology and comparative anatomy, humanoid usually means bipedal locomotion, a roughly upright posture, two upper limbs with manipulative hands, a torso and a head with sensory organs. Real-world variation exists; not all humanoides possess identical anatomy. The umbrella term often encompasses artificial beings such as humanoid robots as well as hypothetical or fictional life-forms.

In popular culture and speculative science, humanoids are a common trope for extraterrestrial species and androids that resemble people. In this context, the term can imply cultural and cognitive attributes associated with humans, or simply a familiar silhouette to aid storytelling. The concept also overlaps with terms like hominid and anthropomorphic, which have more specific scientific definitions.