Terrestrial

Origin

Middle English (in the sense ‘temporal, worldly, mundane’): from Latin terrestris (from terra ‘earth’)

• 15th Century

Definitions

• 1a : of or relating to the earth or its inhabitants <terrestrial magnetism>

b : mundane in scope or character : prosaic

• 2:a : of or relating to land as distinct from air or water <terrestrial transportation>

b (1) : living on or in or growing from land <terrestrial plants> <terrestrial birds> (2) : of or relating to terrestrial organisms <terrestrial habits>

• 3: belonging to the class of planets that are like the earth (as in density and silicate composition) <the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars>

See also

• Extraterrestrial
• Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to arboreal life (in trees)
• Terrestrial locomotion, evolutionary adaptation from aquatic types of locomotion
• Terrestrial plant, a plant that grows on land rather than in water or on rocks or trees
• Terrestrial planet, a planet that is primarily composed of silicate rocks, and thus "Earth-like"