bipedalism

American  

[bahy-ped-l-iz-uhm] / baɪˈpɛd lˌɪz əm /

Also bipedality

noun

1. the condition of being two-footed or of using two feet for standing and walking.

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Etymology

Origin of bipedalism

First recorded in 1905–10; bipedal + -ism

Example Sentences

Prior to that, she was a paleoanthropology researcher and received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2016 for work focused on hominin bipedalism.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026

Both species possessed upright postures, bipedalism and were highly agile.

From Science Daily • Nov. 28, 2024

He posited that humans evolved through natural selection, and that the first thing to develop was bipedalism; in other words, standing upright preceded brain development.

From New York Times • Apr. 26, 2024

The ancestors of the Lufengpithecus did not move anything like this — their locomotion was more analogous to what we see today among gibbons in Asia — and humans developed their bipedalism afterward.

From Salon • Feb. 16, 2024

The human lineage, through a succession of species, subsequently acquired key characteristics such as bipedalism, longer limbs and a larger brain.

From Reuters • Jun. 1, 2023