Pithecanthropus

[pith-i-kan-thruh-puhs, -kuhn-throh-puhs]

noun

1. a former genus of extinct hominins whose members have now been assigned to the proposed species Homo erectus.

pithecanthropus

/ ˌpɪθɪkænˈθrəʊpəs, -ˈkænθrə- /

noun

1. any primitive apelike man of the former genus Pithecanthropus, now included in the genus Homo See Java man Peking man

pithecanthropus

1. An extinct hominid postulated from bones found in Java in 1891 and originally designated Pithecanthropus erectus because it was thought to represent a species evolutionarily between apes and humans. Pithecanthropus is now classified as Homo erectus.

2. Also called Java man

3. See more at Homo erectus

Other Word Forms

• pithecanthropine adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pithecanthropus¹

First recorded in 1870–75; from New Latin: literally “ape-man”; from Greek píthēk(os) “ape” + Greek ánthrōpos “human being”

Word History and Origins

Origin of pithecanthropus¹

C19: New Latin, from Greek pithēkos ape + anthrōpos man

Example Sentences

But after further inspection, he changed the name to Pithecanthropus erectus, an upright “ape-man.”

From New York Times

He swathes himself, larva-like—in many wrappings, and encases himself in the angular cocoons furnished for the purpose at one dollar each by the deck steward; or he haunts the smoking room, and under the stimulus of unaccustomed beverages enters into arguments at levels of intelligence and logic which would hardly tax the powers of Pithecanthropus or a Bushman.

From Project Gutenberg

Such as they were, these relics appeared nearer in form to the corresponding fragments of an average Australian than to those of an ape, and on this ground intelligence was claimed for the creature of which they were the remains, and it was given the name of Pithecanthropus, or Ape-Man.

From Project Gutenberg

The discovery aroused much discussion, but on all sides it was unhesitatingly assumed that the difference between the form of Pithecanthropus and that of the most similar ape was an index of its superior intelligence over the ape, just in so far as that difference was in the direction of the modern human form.

From Project Gutenberg

The earliest-known representative of the human family was the Ape-man, Pithecanthropus, who at the end of the Pliocene period wandered east as far as Java, where the fossilized remains of a skull were found thirty years ago by Professor Eugen Dubois.

From Project Gutenberg