Pith·e·can·thro·pus

(pĭth′ĭ-kăn′thrə-pəs, -kăn-thrō′pəs)

An extinct hominin known from fossil remains discovered in Java in 1891 and originally designated Pithecanthropus erectus because it was thought to represent a species evolutionarily intermediate between humans and nonhuman apes. Pithecanthropus is now classified as Homo erectus. It is sometimes referred to as Java man.

[New Latin Pithēcanthrōpus, former genus name : Greek pithēkos, ape + Greek anthrōpos, human being.]

pith′e·can·throp′ic (-kən-thrŏp′ĭk) adj.

pith′e·can′thro·pine (-kăn′thrə-pīn′) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pithecanthropus

(ˌpɪθɪkænˈθrəʊpəs; -ˈkænθrə-)

n, pl -pi (-ˌpaɪ)

(Anthropology & Ethnology) any primitive apelike man of the former genus Pithecanthropus, now included in the genus Homo. See Java man, Peking man

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

ˌpitheˈcanthroˌpine, ˌpitheˈcanthroˌpoid adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Pith•e•can•thro•pus

(ˌpɪθ ɪˈkæn θrə pəs, -kənˈθroʊ pəs)

n.

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

[< New Latin (1891) < Greek píthēk(os) ape + ánthrōpos man]

pithecanthropus

A type of primitive human being.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

Pithecanthropus - former genus of primitive apelike men now Homo erectus

genus Pithecanthropus, Pithecanthropus erectus

hominid - a primate of the family Hominidae

Translations

питекантроп

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

One said it was the dryopithecus of Java, the other said it was pithecanthropus. Madness, I call it--Loonies, both.

View in context

The countenance might have been that of a cross between Pithecanthropus, the Java ape-man, and a daughter of the Piltdown race of prehistoric Sussex.

View in context

The experiment they undertake, in laboratory conditions with "no music and no religious atmosphere of any sort," brings forth non-human materializations--in this instance a bird of prey and a Pithecanthropus, "either an ape-like man or a man-like ape." Once again, Malone has uncovered a lost world of strange birds of prey and ape-men.

The Lost Worlds of Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger Series

the Dionysian Education of a Pithecanthropus Erectus

Schooling for "deep-knowing": on the education of a Pithecanthropus Erectus

Then, when developing a new project, they went to the Arctic to search for prehistoric men embedded in glaciers; eventually, they found a 30,000 years old perfect Pithecanthropus in whose skull they thought to transplant a brain segment of a present-day man; the new creature should be endowed with enough understanding to make him obey Dexter's orders.

A myth, a life ... for eternity

Two beautiful pieces made in the 20th century--"Pithecanthropus Erectus" by the bassist Charlie Mingus and "Vir Heroicus Sublimus" by Barnett Newman--were a real inspiration for me.

In conversation: Alain Kirili with Robert C. Morgan