hominin

American  

[hom-uh-nin] / ˈhɒm ə nɪn /

noun

Anthropology, Zoology.

1. any member of the group consisting of all modern and extinct humans and their immediate ancestors, specifically members of the tribe Hominini.

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Etymology

Origin of hominin

First recorded in 1985–90; from New Latin Hominīnī, equivalent to Latin homin- (stem of homō ) “human being, man” + -īnī (plural of the adjective suffix -īnus indicating origin or affiliation); see origin at Homo ( def. ), -ine ¹ ( def. ) )

Compare meaning

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

• hominin vs. hominid

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hominin

The new discovery is part of a much larger collection of hominin footprints found in ancient lakeshore environments around Lake Turkana.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

"Each site represents a snapshot of our past, and we are quickly building a photo album with several different windows to hominin anatomy, locomotion, behavior, and environments during the Early Pleistocene," says Hatala.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

That discovery placed another hominin lineage in the broader region during the same critical window and suggested that early human relatives were more widespread and ecologically flexible than once assumed.

From Science Daily ● May 16, 2026

Instead of needing to assume major contributions from an unknown archaic hominin population in Africa, the model shows how patterns in modern DNA could have emerged from structure within ancestral human populations themselves.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2026

The area documents early Acheulean stone tool industries, shifting animal communities linked to climate change, and multiple phases of hominin presence over hundreds of thousands of years.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2026