Neanderthal
pronunciation
How to pronounce Neanderthal in British English:
UK [niˈændətɑːl]
How to pronounce Neanderthal in American English:
US [ nɪ'ændəθɔl]
-
- Adjective:
- ill-mannered and coarse and contemptible in behavior or appearance
Word Origin
- Neanderthal (adj.)
- 1861, in reference to a type of extinct hominid, from German Neanderthal "Neander Valley," name of a gorge near Düsseldorf where humanoid fossils were identified in 1856. The place name is from the Graecized form of Joachim Neumann (literally "new man," Greek *neo-ander), 1650-1680, German pastor, poet and hymn-writer, who made this a favorite spot in the 1670s. Adopting a classical form of one's surname was a common practice among educated Germans in this era. As a noun, by 1915; as a type of a big, brutish, stupid person from 1926.
Example
- 1. Both cro-magnon and neanderthal man seems to have actively sought out anddestroyed cave bears .
- 2. I 'm saying you 're a neanderthal .
- 3. Stone tools at the site correspond to the middle palaeolithic period , when neanderthal man emerged , and resemble those found across spain .
- 4. After the researchers analyzed the fossil of a late neanderthal infant there , they found it was 39700 years old .
- 5. The first comparisons of small sections of neanderthal dna did not indicate any hybridization , and the lack of interbreeding became a widely accepted conclusion .