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Mayor is a word that specifically means the leader of a town. Chief means the leader of a tribe. Governor means the leader of a state or province. Words like Emperor or King imply the head of a country. What word would imply like these that someone is the leader of a planet?

Obviously, we haven't had one (yet), so there's not a canonical word like "Mayor" is for cities. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, could not be described with this word because he is not the head of state of Earth. Imagine if we had a global election and chose one leader of Earth. This term would describe that person after he took office.

There are plenty of terms that could be used if such a situation would actually happen. President, Chancellor, Prime Minister, and words like this could be used, but they serve more to imply how the person was given their authority. Even King and Emperor would fall into this category, as having a head of state imply that the planet is now one huge nation. None of these terms, however, specifically imply that this leader is installed at the planetary level.

City :: Mayor as Planet :: what?

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    You're assuming that the political subdivisions you know about are inherent in any planetary social system. Obviously the king of Saturn would be be called "Hot Licks".
    – Hot Licks
    Oct 30, 2015 at 22:01
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    Usually words are only coined where there has been a need for them. While I've no doubt that some Science Fiction writers have coined such a word (though I can't think of an example, as it happens), only if one of these words had been taken up by other writers would it be realistically regarded as an English word.
    – Colin Fine
    Oct 30, 2015 at 22:20
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    The word for the leader of a planet is takemeto. It is commonly spoken by visitors.
    – Drew
    Oct 30, 2015 at 22:41
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    I don't think Mayor, governor, president, or chancellor imply any specific governmental level either- why does this one need to? As you say, Chancellor, Prime Minister, etc, imply how the person was given their authority and I would guess that the title given to the planetary leader would follow suit. I think Chancellor sounds right for a planetary leader.
    – Jim
    Oct 31, 2015 at 5:27
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    @HotLicks Wouldn't that be the King of Venus or Mercury? They're a lot hotter than Saturn. (Only the daylight side of Mercury, of course it being tidally locked to the sun).
    – BoldBen
    Sep 23, 2022 at 7:55

2 Answers 2

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There is the term cosmocracy which means:

  • rule of the whole world. (dictionary.com)

Cosmocrat:

  • a ruler of the world. (Collins)
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The president of planet earth why because it allows lower level of democracy and it the word people accept going forward either dictatorship like that word at least for the English language China and NK real title is chairman the other opinion is President of an organisation this is more realistic Eg UN/EU /a world orders what don't yet exist president of the the world council I know this is years later but it doesn't mean that other people aren't reading this and I find all these words really interesting because they all mean the same thing do you call a politician prime minister first minister or chief minister Jersey has a chief minister not a first minister or prime minister the difference between a first minister and a prime minister one is commander and chief of the army but the person who actually has chief in the name isn't is the part of the reason why people are using President going forward everyone knows what it means and not every president is ahead of state if you're president of a company you're not

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    As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please edit to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
    – Community Bot
    Sep 22, 2022 at 18:56
  • And adding a few paragraph breaks would help as well.
    – Hot Licks
    Sep 22, 2022 at 20:54
  • Here's @HotLicks with the Hot Take.
    – Erick Robertson
    Oct 27, 2022 at 13:09

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