Advertisement

hominoid (adj.)

"man-like," 1927, from Latin homo (genitive hominis) "man" (see homunculus) + -oid. As a noun meaning "an animal resembling man," from 1927. Earlier adjective was hominiform "of human shape" (1670s).

Entries related to hominoid

homunculus (n.)
"tiny human being produced artificially," 1650s, from Latin homunculus (plural homunculi), literally "little person," with -culus, diminutive suffix, + homo (genitive hominis), which technically meant "male human," but it also was used with a sense "the human race, mankind;" while in Vulgar Latin it could be used as "one, anyone, they, people" and in logical and scholastic writing as "a human being, person."

This is conjectured to be from PIE *(dh)ghomon- (source also of Old Irish duine, Welsh dyn, Breton den "man;" Old Prussian smunents, smunets "man;" Old Lithuanian žmuo "person," Lithuanian žmogus "man," žmones "people," Gothic guma, Old High German gomo, Old Norse gume, Old English guma "man"). The literal sense is "earthling," from PIE root *dhghem- "earth" (compare human (adj.)). Other Latin diminutives from homo included homullus, homuncio.
-oid 

word-forming element meaning "like, like that of, thing like a ______," from Latinized form of Greek -oeidēs (three syllables), from eidos "form," related to idein "to see," eidenai "to know;" literally "to see" (from PIE *weid-es-, from root *weid- "to see"). The -o- is connective or a stem vowel from the previous element. Often implying an incomplete or imperfect resemblance to the thing indicated.

Others are reading

Advertisement
Definitions of hominoid from WordNet

hominoid (n.)
a primate of the superfamily Hominoidea;
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near hominoid

homily

homing

hominid

hominiform

hominivorous

hominoid

hominy

homo-

homo

Homo sapiens

homoerotic

© 2001-2021 Douglas Harper