Literally "wise man"; the modern human being, the only extant species of the genus, or family, that also included other species named Homo. Of the family, Hominidae.

Man as a rational being.

The genus of mankind as distinct from other animals.

Relating to a very early form of a human being, anatomically distinct from a modern human: Neanderthals in Europe and Solo man in Asia are usually classed as archaic humans, or archaic Homo sapiens. According to one model of human evolution, widely separated but interbreeding archaic groups in different parts of the world evolved independently into today's physiologically distinct geographic populations.