hominin
noun
hom·i·nin
ˈhä-mə-nən 
-ˌnin
: any of a taxonomic tribe (Hominini) of hominids that includes recent humans together with extinct ancestral and related forms
Examples of hominin in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
To date, the earliest evidence of hominins making fire has been much more recent—from only 50,000 years ago.
—
Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 10 Dec. 2025
The team believes that the area’s hominins who understood pyrite’s utility sourced it elsewhere before bringing it to the Barnham site.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 10 Dec. 2025
But more recent discoveries of older hominins that likely walked upright have suggested that Lucy was not the earliest human ancestor, although most still think her species was ancestral to our own lineage.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Dec. 2025
Four separate genetics studies have concluded that hominins couldn’t have arrived earlier than 55,000 years ago.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 30 Aug. 2025
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Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 10 Dec. 2025
The team believes that the area’s hominins who understood pyrite’s utility sourced it elsewhere before bringing it to the Barnham site.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 10 Dec. 2025
But more recent discoveries of older hominins that likely walked upright have suggested that Lucy was not the earliest human ancestor, although most still think her species was ancestral to our own lineage.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Dec. 2025
Four separate genetics studies have concluded that hominins couldn’t have arrived earlier than 55,000 years ago.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hominin
Cite this Entry
“Hominin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hominin. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.
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