the genus of human beings, 1802, in William Turton's translation of Linnæus, coined in Modern Latin from Latin homo "man" (technically "male human," but in logical and scholastic writing "human being;" see homunculus) + sapiens, present participle of sapere "be wise" (see sapient).

Homo as the genus of the human race, within the order Primates, was formally instituted in Modern Latin 1758 by Linnaeus (originally also including chimpanzees). Used since in various Latin or pseudo-Latin combinations intended to emphasize some aspect of humanity, as in Henri Bergson's Homo faber "man the tool-maker" (in "L'Evolution Créatrice", 1907).

1983, in the modern "human-caused global warming" sense. See climate (n.) + change (n.). Climatic change in a similar sense was in use from 1975.

"human being eaten as food," by 1848, in stories from the Fiji Islands, said to be a literal rendering of a local term, in one version puaka balava.

Bau literally stank for many days, human flesh having been cooked in every house, and the entrails thrown outside as food for pigs, or left to putrefy in the sun. The Somosomo people were fed with human flesh during their stay at Bau, they being on a visit at that time; and some of the Chiefs of other towns, when bringing their food, carried a cooked human being on one shoulder, and a pig on the other; but they always preferred the "long pig," as they call a man when baked. ["FEEJEE.—Extract of a Letter from the Rev. John Watsford, dated Ono, October 6th, 1846." in "Wesleyan Missionary Notices," Sept. 1847]

phrase expressing the fundamental immutability of life, human situations, etc., 1903, French, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (1849), literally "the more it changes, the more it stays the same."

by 1983 as the name for a condition of overall rising temperatures on Earth and attendant consequences as a result of human activity. Originally theoretical, popularized as a reality from 1989.

"period between youth and old age," formerly generally understood as 40 to 50, late 14c., from middle (adj.) + age (n.). The adjective middle-aged "having lived to the middle of the ordinary human lifespan, neither old nor young" is by c. 1600.

late 14c., originally often at the bay; see bay (n.3). Figurative use, of human beings in difficulties, is from c. 1400. The expression reflects the former more widespread use of at. The earlier form of the phrase was at abai, used of hunted animals, "unable to escape," c. 1300, from French.

"part of the Atlantic Ocean which lies between the West Indies and the west coast of Africa," 1788, in the agitation against the trans-Atlantic slave trade, from middle (adj.) + passage.

It is clear that none of the unfortunate people, perhaps at this moment on board, can stand upright, but that they must sit down, and contract their limbs within the limits of little more than three square feet, during the whole of the middle passage. I cannot compare the scene on board this vessel, to any other than that of a pen of sheep; with this difference only, that the one have the advantages of a wholesome air, while that, which the others breathe, is putrid. [Thomas Clarkson, "An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species," 1788]