Wiktionary

little green man

English

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little green man (senses 1/2)
 
Unmarked soldiers guarding a military base in Perevalne 2014.
 
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Pronunciation

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Noun

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little green man (plural little green men)

  1. (chiefly science fiction) A conventional fictional alien from outer space in the form of a small humanoid with green skin.
    • 1950 December 6, The Sydney Morning Herald, page 3, column 5:
      An engram is NOT [...] One of the little green men Americans claim have crashed in flying saucers.
  2. (humorous) One of the supposed extraterrestrial occupants of UFOs.
  3. (folklore) A type of diminutive sprite or fairy that wears green clothing.
    • 1866 May 5, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, page 4, column 1:
      It was the pantomime of "Jack and the Bean Stalk," and as the Hallicots entered a large number of little green men were hammering on anvils in a gloomy and spacious cave.
    • 1883 March 17, The Brisbane Courier, page 3, column 3:
      How funny to see the little green men, and the fairies in gossamer and dewdrops.
    • 1896 January 25, The Australasian, page 41, column 3:
      In an uncautions moment, once upon a time, I had informed Sweetheart that on the branches of that tree in years long past, when I used to trudge past it on foot, there used to be seen little green men, moping and mowing. So every time we pass that way Sweetheart requires the story with out variations. Not a single fairy must be added or subtracted.
    • 1921 January 23, The Truth, page 8, column 4:
      Still the Green Isle is supposed to specialise in fairies - the little green men and fairy sprites have in spired many poems and stories of that distressful country[.]
    • 1932 March 5, The Daily Mercury, page 14, column 2:
      "Sure...the Little Green Men can't be as spiteful as some people say!"
  4. (geopolitics, euphemistic, usually in the plural) A soldier lacking identification as to create uncertainty around their allegiance (most notably seen with affiliation to the Russian Federation following associated campaigns 2014 in Ukraine).
    • 2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014‎[1], Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United States Army Special Operations Command, page 43:
      These infamous little green men appeared during the decisive seizures or buildings and facilities, only to disappear when associated militias and local troops arrived to consolidate the gains. In this way they provided a measure of deniability—however superficial or implausible—for Moscow.40
    • 2015, Shane R. Reeves, David Wallace, “The Combatant Status of the “Little Green Men” and Other Participants in the Ukraine Conflict”, in International Law Studies, US Naval War College‎[2], volume 91, number 361, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, page 393:
      The “little green men”—faces covered, wearing unmarked olive uniforms, speaking Russian and using Russian weapons—have played a significant role in both the occupation of Crimea and the civil war in eastern Ukraine.196
    • 2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution‎[3], The Center for International Security and Cooperation:
      The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were.

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