Homo habilis

American  

[hoh-moh hab-uh-lis] / ˈhoʊ moʊ ˈhæb ə lɪs /

noun

1. an extinct species of upright East African hominin having some advanced humanlike characteristics, dated as being from about 1.5 million to more than 2 million years old and proposed as an early form of Homo leading to modern humans.

2. a fossil belonging to this species.

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Homo habilis British  

/ ˈhæbɪlɪs /

noun

1. an extinct species of primitive man, the first to use stone tools

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Homo habilis Scientific  

/ hăb′ə-ləs /

1. An extinct species of early humans, known from fossils found in eastern Africa and often considered to be the first member of the genus Homo. It is associated with stone tools of the Oldowan culture. Homo habilis existed between about 2.5 and 1.6 million years ago and overlapped with late australopithecines and other hominids whose relationship to each other and to the later Homo erectus are uncertain.

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Etymology

Origin of Homo habilis

First recorded in 1960–65; from New Latin: literally “skillful man, handy man,” because this species was thought to represent the first maker of stone tools. The oldest stone tools, however, are currently dated slightly older than the oldest evidence of the genus Homo

Compare meaning

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

• Homo habilis vs. Homo erectus

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Homo habilis

One idea is that DAN5 could reflect admixture between classic African Homo erectus and the earlier Homo habilis species.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 16, 2025

“When Lucy was found, we thought Homo habilis was the one who made the earliest tools,” says archaeologist Sonia Harmand of the French national research agency CNRS.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 3, 2024

Homo habilis resembles us in many ways, with a large brain similar to ours as well as small teeth and a face we might recognize as human.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

At the time paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey argued that a more direct relative of humans that was found nearby, the slightly larger-brained Homo habilis, must have made the Oldowan tools.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 10, 2023

Those protohumans are generally known as Australopithecus africanus, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus, which apparently evolved into each other in that sequence.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond