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.

---

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

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

Were they part of a larger web of hominin species living across eastern Africa?

From Science Daily ● May 16, 2026

North and South America and Australia are especially intriguing because they were not inhabited by earlier hominin species before Homo sapiens.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 12, 2026

These conditions ultimately led researchers to the hominin remains and the geological context that makes the current study possible.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2026

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