Rhodesian man
- noun
- Specialized
:
hombre de Rhodesia
- The skull of the Rhodesian man was unearthed in what is now Zambia in 1921.
Examples
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Scientists debate whether Rhodesian man should be classified as a distinct species or grouped with Homo heidelbergensis.
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Fossil evidence suggests that Rhodesian man lived in Africa over 300,000 years ago.
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The Rhodesian man is an important subject in paleoanthropology.
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Many fossils of the Rhodesian man were discovered in Zambia.
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Fossil evidence suggests that Rhodesian man lived in Africa over 300,000 years ago.
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Scientists debate whether Rhodesian man should be classified as a distinct species or grouped with Homo heidelbergensis.
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The skull of the Rhodesian man was unearthed in what is now Zambia in 1921.
Synonyms
An early human who lived in Africa and is known from old bones
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'Rhodesian' (of Rhodesia) and 'man' (human) transparently indicate a human associated with Rhodesia, so a B1 learner would get a general sense of 'a person from Rhodesia'. However, the technical meaning — an extinct hominid species (Homo rhodesiensis) known from fossils — is specialist and not derivable from the parts, so full meaning requires extra domain knowledge.
Etymology
The name Rhodesian man comes from the place Rhodesian where its fossils were found and the word man for an 'early human'. In 1921 a skull was dug up in the area then called Rhodesia, so scientists used the name 'Rhodesian man' to mean an extinct human from that place.
