hominid
UK[ˈhɒmɪnɪd]US[ˈhɑːmɪnɪd]
n
A member of a family of primates that includes modern humans and their fossil ancestors.
n
Any modern or extinct member of the family Hominidae, which includes great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans) and humans.
Morpheme Breakdown
homin
id
homin
human
id
family/descendant suffix
Etymology
The term 'hominid' is a modern scientific construction, entering English in the late 19th century from the New Latin family name Hominidae. Its root, homin-, is borrowed directly from the Latin homo (genitive hominis), meaning 'human being'. This Latin word itself is traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root dʰǵʰm̥mō meaning 'earthling', derived from dʰéǵʰōm ('earth'), highlighting an ancient conception of humans as beings from the ground. The suffix -id is a standard taxonomic ending for a zoological family, creating a term that literally means 'of the family of humans'. Over time, the scientific classification has expanded, so 'hominid' now encompasses not just human ancestors but also our closest great ape relatives.
Analysis
Structure: homin (human) + id (family/descendant suffix)
- homin: From Latin homo, homin- meaning 'man, human being'. It functions as the core root specifying the concept of 'human'.
- id: A suffix from New Latin -idae, used in zoological taxonomy to denote a family. It functions as a classifier indicating membership in a biological family.
Examples
The discovery of the fossil provided new evidence about the diet of an early hominid.
Modern humans are the only surviving species of the hominid family.
Scientists study the skeletal structure to differentiate between various hominid species.