cyborg

IPA/ˈsaɪbɔːɡ/
KK[sˈaɪbɔrɡ]IPA/ˈsaɪbɔːrɡ/

cyborg — noun

  • cyborgsingular
  • cyborgsplural

1. A fictional being whose body blends living human tissue with mechanical or elect

1.nounB2
Definition

A fictional being whose body blends living human tissue with mechanical or electronic parts.

Example

Nala's favourite film character is a cyborg whose memories are stored on a computer chip.

possessive 'whose' for describing cyborg features

The novel imagines a future where cyborgs live alongside ordinary humans.

Common collocations
  • cyborg character
  • cyborg army
  • become a cyborg
Synonyms
  • android

    refers to a robot designed to look like a human, while a cyborg has living human parts

  • bionic being

    more technical; emphasises electronic enhancement rather than the blend of tissue and machine

Antonyms
  • human

    a person with no mechanical or electronic body parts

Grammar Patterns

a/the + cyborg

cyborg + relative clause with 'whose'

Usage Note

This sense is specific to fictional, especially science-fiction, contexts. In everyday conversation, most people first think of movie or comic-book cyborgs rather than real technology.

Common Mistakes

The robot had human skin on its face.
The cyborg had human skin on its face.
Robots are fully mechanical; cyborgs have both living and mechanical parts.
The cyborg in the hospital helped the doctors with surgery.' (when meaning a medical robot)
The surgical robot in the hospital helped the doctors.
Real medical assistants are robots, not cyborgs.

2. A person whose body contains electronic or mechanical parts that improve or repl

2.nounC1
Definition

A person whose body contains electronic or mechanical parts that improve or replace their natural abilities, for example to help them see, hear, or move.

Example

Some people with hearing loss use a cochlear implant, making them a kind of cyborg.

collocation: cochlear implant / hearing loss

After her accident, Noor calls herself a cyborg because of her robotic leg.

pattern: call + oneself + a [noun]

Common collocations
  • real-life cyborg
  • become a cyborg
  • call someone a cyborg
Synonyms
  • bionic human

    more formal; emphasises electronic restoration of lost functions

  • augmented human

    focuses on enhanced abilities rather than the machine-human boundary

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

a/the + cyborg

become a cyborg

call + noun + a cyborg

Usage Note

This sense is broader than the science-fiction one and can include people with medical implants or prosthetics. The term is sometimes used playfully or metaphorically by those who embrace the label.

Common Mistakes

My new phone makes me a cyborg.
My new phone makes me feel like a cyborg.
Using an ordinary electronic device does not make someone truly a cyborg; the term implies the device is part of the body.

Word family

  • cybernetic
    adjectiveC1
  • cybernetics
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Cyborg', 'android', 'robot', and 'bionic human' all describe humanlike machines, but they differ crucially. A cyborg has living human tissue combined with mechanical parts — it was once (or partly remains) a biological being. An android is a fully artificial robot built to resemble a human, with no living tissue. A robot can look any way at all and is purely mechanical or digital. A bionic human specifically describes someone whose lost or weakened body parts have been replaced by electronic devices, usually for medical reasons. For example: the character Data from Star Trek is an android, not a cyborg — he has no human origin. A person with a bionic arm after an accident fits the bionic human label, and if you stretch the definition, also the cyborg label.

cyborg ↗android ↗robot ↗bionic human

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • science fiction cyborg
  • part human part machine

Etymology

GreekEnglish

The word 'cyborg' was coined in 1960 by the scientists Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline. They blended 'cybernetic' (from the Greek 'kybernetes', meaning steersman or controller) with 'organism' to describe a human whose body is enhanced with technology, originally for surviving in outer space. The term quickly became a staple of science fiction and later spread into discussions of real medical and technological augmentation.

First known use

1960

1960, in the meaning defined above