Homo habilis

American  

[hoh-moh hab-uh-lis] / ˈhoʊ moʊ ˈhæb ə lɪs /

noun

1. an extinct species of upright East African hominin having some advanced humanlike characteristics, dated as being from about 1.5 million to more than 2 million years old and proposed as an early form of Homo leading to modern humans.

2. a fossil belonging to this species.

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Homo habilis British  

/ ˈhæbɪlɪs /

noun

1. an extinct species of primitive man, the first to use stone tools

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Homo habilis Scientific  

/ hăb′ə-ləs /

1. An extinct species of early humans, known from fossils found in eastern Africa and often considered to be the first member of the genus Homo. It is associated with stone tools of the Oldowan culture. Homo habilis existed between about 2.5 and 1.6 million years ago and overlapped with late australopithecines and other hominids whose relationship to each other and to the later Homo erectus are uncertain.

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Etymology

Origin of Homo habilis

First recorded in 1960–65; from New Latin: literally “skillful man, handy man,” because this species was thought to represent the first maker of stone tools. The oldest stone tools, however, are currently dated slightly older than the oldest evidence of the genus Homo

Compare meaning

How does homo-habilis compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Homo habilis vs. Homo erectus

Example Sentences

One idea is that DAN5 could reflect admixture between classic African Homo erectus and the earlier Homo habilis species.

From Science Daily • Dec. 16, 2025

“It’s a convincing case,” Ward says, “but it’s just one mandible until about 2 million years ago,” when at least two members of the genus, Homo habilis and H. erectus, appear elsewhere in eastern Africa.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 3, 2024

At the time paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey argued that a more direct relative of humans that was found nearby, the slightly larger-brained Homo habilis, must have made the Oldowan tools.

From Scientific American • Mar. 10, 2023

Homo habilis was discovered in Tanzania in the early 1960s by a group led by Louis and Mary Leakey, a married pair of paleoanthropologists.

From New York Times • Apr. 10, 2019

Those protohumans are generally known as Australopithecus africanus, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus, which apparently evolved into each other in that sequence.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond