human being

Definition

A person; a large sapient, bipedal primate, with notably less hair than others of that order, of the species Homo sapiens.

Etymology

From human (adjective) + being (noun). The word human was originally an adjective, thus requiring a base noun.

Example Sentences

• "He began to reflect that in a few Minutes he might possibly deprive a human Being of Life, or might lose his own."
• "The first real human beings in China lived about 600,000 years ago. Fossils of Gigantopithecus, a Latin name for Giant Ape, were dug up at Lan-t'ien in the early 1960s. Though they looked a lot like apes, the Lan-t'ien people were among the first of our species to make tools."
• "As Australopithecus evolved into the first human being, Homo habilis, and then into the species, Homo sapiens, we have evolved as social beings"

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