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Vulcan

proper noun

  1. god of both beneficial and hindering fire
  2. nonexistent planet
  3. fictional planet
  4. hypothetical planet
L1196574 on Wikidata ↗

noun

  1. member of a fictional alien ethnic group
L619407 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈvʌlkən/

adj

Etymology: From Vulcan (etymology 1), from the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s. The adjective is by analogy with -an.

  1. Of, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of the fictional Vulcans.

    On the other hand, any being with intellect, will and self-awareness is, by definition, human, whatever its outward appearance or solar system of origin. Captain Kirk is properly Terran, as Spock is Vulcan or Worf is Klingon. They are all human.

    After her [Michael Burnham’s] human parents were killed by Klingons, she was raised by a Vulcan father and a human mother, along with the couple’s biological child, Spock. “Burnham was envisioned as a woman who must find the balance between two distinctly different ideologies,” said [Sonequa] Martin-Green. “Being human yet indoctrinated with a Vulcan way of life causes an inner conflict that is familiar to a lot of people.”

  2. Lacking emotion or overly analytical and boring.

    The military has staffing down to a science (note that the top job is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). Even four-star generals can think like a staffer. [Colin] Powell’s natural human instinct as a principal might be to run for president, but his Vulcan-staffer side tells him it’s a crazy idea.

    The same could be said of Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), a forensic anthropologist on “Bones” who is so driven and unfeeling that she has to have human emotions explained to her by an F.B.I. agent. (After six seasons, she has warmed up a little, but she hasn’t completely lost her Vulcan detachment.)

name

Etymology: From Vulcan (etymology 1), from the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s. The adjective is by analogy with -an.

  1. An inhabited planet, the homeworld of the Vulcan species.

    Steve and I explained the new program to our children, who looked at us as if we had just announced that we were from the planet Vulcan.

  2. A language constructed for the Star Trek franchise, spoken by the fictional Vulcan species.

noun

Etymology: From Vulcan (etymology 1).

  1. The Avro Vulcan, a type of jet-powered British bomber aircraft built by Avro during the Cold War.