bipedalism

Also bi·pe·dal·i·ty

[bahy-ped-l-iz-uhm]

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bipedalism¹

First recorded in 1905–10; bipedal + -ism

Example Sentences

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

From Science Daily

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

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

"Our study points to a three-step evolution of human bipedalism," adds Terry Harrison, a New York University anthropologist and one of the paper's co-authors.

From Science Daily

In each chapter, we encounter what she calls an Eve, the earliest known creature that exhibited a certain trait, from live birth to bipedalism, from perception to menopause.

From Salon