# Human:Hominid as Chimp:\_\_\_\_? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922 "2004-09-30T20:44:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jon\_the\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jon\_the\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jon_the_Geek)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/1 "2004-09-30T20:44:13Z")
Is there a word that means something like “the organisms on the branch of the evolutionary tree between the chimp-human common ancestor and chimps”? In other words, a chimp equivalent of “hominid”? I thought maybe “panid,” but a google search yielded only pages in languages other than English. I’m just curious, and can understand if there isn’t (since hominid evolution is obviously a bigger deal to most humans than chimp evolution). ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/2 "2004-09-30T21:02:53Z")
_Pongid_. This term is used for the great apes in general: chimps, gorillas and orangutans. I don’t think there’s a term for chimps specifically. ---
**Author:** ![Jon\_the\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jon\_the\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jon_the_Geek)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/3 "2004-09-30T21:18:27Z")
Hmm. It looks like the actual answer might be “hominid”. By [some definitions](http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Hominidae) at least, hominid (and _Hominidae_) includes all of the great apes, from the common ancestor of orangutans, chimps, humans, and gorillas up through the modern great apes (including us). Thanks for the answer, though; I think it’s as close to what I wanted as I’m going to find 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/4 "2004-09-30T21:19:15Z")
The -id ending is an Anglicization of the “scientific Latin” ending -idae, which effectively says “This is an animal family characterized by the genus the ending is attached to.” Humans are the surviving species of the family Hominidae, hence early humans are _hominids_. According to traditional classifications, the three great apes are members of the family Pongidae (founded from _Pongo pygmaeus_, the orangutan), and hence gorillas, chimps, and orangutans are _pongids_. The related form for a subfamily is -ine, Anglicized from -inae. (It’s also the Anglicization for the “tribe” – the subdivision of a subfamily with a plethora of genera and hence requiring an intermediate breakdown, for which the Latinate ending is -ini.) So it would probably be accurate to refer to chimps and their immediate ancestors as “panines.” (I’d pronounce that as /-eenz/ rhyming with means rather than /-Inz/ rhyming with mines.) ---
**Author:** ![Complex\_Conjugate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Complex\_Conjugate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Complex_Conjugate)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/5 "2004-09-30T21:21:55Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > _Pongid_. This term is used for the great apes in general: chimps, gorillas and orangutans. I don’t think there’s a term for chimps specifically. Orangutans, great apes? Don’t get me wrong I think they are certainnly _good_ apes, but _great_? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/6 "2004-09-30T21:35:46Z")
Orangutans are the greatest of apes. The whole family is named after them. Ook. ---
**Author:** ![Jon\_the\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jon\_the\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jon_the_Geek)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/7 "2004-09-30T22:45:05Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The related form for a subfamily is -ine, Anglicized from -inae. (It’s also the Anglicization for the “tribe” – the subdivision of a subfamily with a plethora of genera and hence requiring an intermediate breakdown, for which the Latinate ending is -ini.) So it would probably be accurate to refer to chimps and their immediate ancestors as “panines.” (I’d pronounce that as /-eenz/ rhyming with means rather than /-Inz/ rhyming with mines.) I stand corrected; _that_ is as close to what I wanted as I’m likely to find, since it seems to actually be exactly what I wanted. Thank you very much. What is the proper way to refer to members of the genus _Homo_? Homines? Or is there a specific Anglicized ending for genus? I really should know these things, but I always stayed down on the molecular end of biology in college 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/8 "2004-09-30T23:00:19Z")
> [@Jon the Geek](#): > > What is the proper way to refer to members of the genus _Homo_? Homines? Or is there a specific Anglicized ending for genus? Human? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/9 "2004-09-30T23:11:24Z")
> [@Jon the Geek](#): > > What is the proper way to refer to members of the genus _Homo_? Homines? Or is there a specific Anglicized ending for genus? I really should know these things, but I always stayed down on the molecular end of biology in college 🙂 Really, the best way is a “members of the genus _Homo_.” “Homine” implies a higher level taxon such as subfamily or tribe (e.g. [here](http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/Zoology/Animalclassification/PrimateTaxonomy/alternativeclassification.htm), one of several possible classifications of humans/apes) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/10 "2004-09-30T23:38:18Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Humans are the surviving species of the family Hominidae, hence early humans are _hominids_. According to traditional classifications, the three great apes are members of the family Pongidae (founded from _Pongo pygmaeus_, the orangutan), and hence gorillas, chimps, and orangutans are _pongids_. Note, though, as **Colibri’s** link demonsrates, there is some disagreement with your position about the exact classification of humans and “apes”. Traditionally, the classification you give above was accepted by everyone, but genetic and geographical evidence makes it neary impossible to substantiate the existence of a Pongid family including orangutans, chimps, and gorillas but excluding humans. Humans and gorillas are closer to each other, genetically, than the gorilla is to the orangutan, and humans and chimpanzees are closer still. So the word “apes”, while still useful in everyday language to denote advanced nonhuman primates, is meaningless taxonomically unless humans are also included. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-hominid-as-chimp-____/266922/11 "2004-10-01T04:45:49Z")
> [@Jon the Geek](#): > > What is the proper way to refer to members of the genus _Homo_? Homines? Homies 😉