Word
sapiens
Phoneticssapi·ens
/ˈseɪpiənz/
Definition
adj. describing a person who has a high level of intelligence and the ability to think about complex ideas. It is most often used in scientific names to talk about humans.
adj. relating to or characteristic of Homo sapiens, the species to which modern humans belong. Often used in biological or psychological contexts to describe advanced cognitive traits.
Examples
“Scientists are still researching how the cognitive abilities of Homo sapiens evolved over thousands of years.”
“The transition from earlier hominins to Homo sapiens is marked by a significant increase in brain size and the development of complex language systems.”
Examples
contextual
“Scientists are still researching how the cognitive abilities of Homo sapiens evolved over thousands of years.”
complex
“The transition from earlier hominins to Homo sapiens is marked by a significant increase in brain size and the development of complex language systems.”
Real-World Examples
“El País announces that Neanderthal men “chose” Sapiens women .” Etymology
From translingual Homo sapiens, from Latin sapiēns, present active participle of sapiō (“discern, be capable of discerning”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.