ScienceSeptember 3, 2026

hominids

HOM-ih-nidz

Definition

The biological family that includes modern humans, extinct human ancestors, and other great apes.

Etymology

Derived from the Latin 'homo' meaning 'man' combined with the Greek suffix '-ides' denoting a family or group. It was adopted into scientific English in the 19th century to classify the human zoological family.

In the news

The article uses the term to describe the long evolutionary timeline of humans, noting that our diet has continually shifted since the first hominids appeared millions of years ago.

Science Festival 2026 in Port-Marly (Yvelines): a family-friendly program to discover.

Read the full article ↗

Sortir à Paris

Related words

alluvial

Relating to or consisting of clay, silt, sand, or gravel deposited by flowing water,…

Science

apicomplexan

Belonging to a large phylum of parasitic protozoa that possess a unique apical complex…

Science

borewell

A narrow hole or shaft drilled into the ground to access water from an underground…

Science

conoid

A specialized, cone-shaped organelle located at the apical end of certain parasites that…

Science

methyltransferases

Enzymes that catalyze the transfer of a methyl group to a specific substrate molecule,…

Science

methyltransferase

An enzyme that facilitates the transfer of a methyl group from a donor molecule to a…

Science

Learn a word like this every day

Meet one new word every morning.

Newspoken pulls one carefully chosen word from the day’s news — with a clear definition, context, and light review that makes it stick. Get it on your phone.