hominine

[ hom-uh-nahyn ]

noun

1. Anthropology, Zoology. a member of the subfamily Homininae, which includes gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans and their extinct relatives.

adjective

1. resembling or characteristic of humans.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hominine¹

First recorded in 1880–85; from Latin, equivalent to homin- (stem of homō ) “man, human being,” and the adjective suffix -īnus; Homo, -ine ¹

Example Sentences

Bones of the hominine Australopithecus afarensis — the species to which the famous 'Lucy' skeleton belongs — have also been found in this location and from the same period.

From Scientific American

Horizontal lines indicate speciation times within the hominine subfamily and the sequence divergence time between human and orang-utan.

From Nature

Good grasp of history The discovery shows that one hominine lineage had grasping feet for at least a million years after Ar. ramidus.

From Scientific American

The finding will force a rethink regarding the course of early hominine evolution, Harcourt-Smith adds.

From Scientific American

Horizontal lines indicate speciation times within the hominine subfamily and the sequence divergence time between human and orang-utan.

From Nature

Related Words

• animal
• mortal
• personal