Flying saucer

Flying saucer is a press name for any supposed flying craft that may be described as having the shape of a saucer, a shallow dish with a central depression for the intended purpose of holding a matching cup, though may more generally refer to any kind of unknown flying object attributed to extraterrestrial or clandestine terrestrial powers, regardless of the shape of the craft. The term has been traced to newspaper reports stemming from the Kenneth Arnold sighting in 1947, when Arnold told reporters that the craft he said he had witnessed flew "like a saucer if you skip it across the water," which was then abbreviated to "flying saucer;" however, the craft that Arnold described did not resemble a saucer at all, or even a disc.

The term predates the common use of UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) or UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon), and the word saucer has been taken in our use to refer to believers in direct extraterrestrial contact, Saucerians.