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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. An extinct primate postulated from bones found in Java in 1891 and originally designated Pithecanthropus erectus because it was thought to represent a species evolutionarily between apes and humans. Pithecanthropus is now classified as Homo erectus.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A hypothetical genus proposed by Haeckel to fill the gap between the anthropoid apes and man.
  2. n. An extinct hominiform animal approaching the human type more closely than any of the anthropoid apes. The genus is based only on two molar teeth, an incomplete calvarium, and a diseased femur found in central Java, in a deposit of volcanic ash said to be of Pliocene age. The capacity of the calvarium is about two thirds the average of that of the human skull. It is characterized by a low forehead and prominent supra-orbital ridges. The femur measures 455 millimeters in length, is straight, and indicates by its shape that the animal walked erect. The name Pithecanthropus erectus was given to it by the discoverer Dubois) “in order to furnish with a definite habitation and a name the theoretical Pithecanthropus of Haeckel.” Beddard, Mamm., p. 584.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. former genus of primitive apelike men now Homo erectus

Etymologies

  1. New Latin Pithēcanthrōpus, genus name : Greek pithēkos, ape + Greek anthrōpos, man. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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‘pithecanthropus’ has been looked up 907 times, loved by 2 people, added to 5 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 27.