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); 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

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

"The technological strategies evident in the stone tools likely played a crucial role in helping hominin populations adapt to the fluctuating environments that characterized the 90,000-year-period in Eastern Asia," Professor Petraglia said.

From Science Daily • Jan. 31, 2026

"Discoveries like this really trigger interesting questions in terms of reviewing, revising, and then coming up with new hypotheses as to what the key differences were between the main hominin groups."

From Science Daily • Jan. 23, 2026

Formally known as StW 573, Little Foot is still considered the most complete ancient hominin skeleton ever found.

From Science Daily • Jan. 5, 2026

The Gona area has produced hominin fossils older than 6.3 million years ago, along with stone tools covering the past 2.6 million years of human evolution.

From Science Daily • Dec. 16, 2025