sapiens

[sey-pee-uhnz]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling modern humans (Homo sapiens ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of sapiens¹

Borrowed into English from New Latin around 1935–40

Example Sentences

That view shifted when researchers analysed 51 fossil teeth from a range of hominids and great apes, including Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, early Homo, Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens.

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But their construction, and ingenuity, has one wondering about the intelligence and fortitude of these homo sapiens who lived as many as 9,000 years ago.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

For decades, experts believed that Homo sapiens reached Europe mainly by traveling through the Balkans and the Levant, moving from Africa into the Middle East.

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A million-year-old human skull found in China suggests that our species, Homo sapiens, began to emerge at least half a million years earlier than we thought, researchers are claiming in a new study.

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That sapiens is Latin for “wise” can just seem like an ironic joke.

Read more on Los Angeles Times