What is "homo"

short for homosexual (n.), attested by 1929; usually contemptuous.

a. 1 (context colloquial sometimes pejorative English) Of or pertaining to homosexuality. 2 (context not comparable Canada US English) homogenized; almost always said of milk with a high butterfat content. n. (context colloquial often pejorative English) ''Short form of'' homosexual.

1. n. someone who practices homosexuality; having a sexual attraction to persons of the same sex [syn: homosexual, gay]

2. any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae [syn: man, human being, human]

Homo is the genus that comprises the species Homo sapiens, which includes modern humans, as well as several extinct species classified as ancestral to or closely related to modern humans—as for examples Homo habilis and Homo neanderthalensis. The genus is about 2.8 million years old; it first appeared as its earliest species Homo habilis, which emerged from the genus Australopithecus, which itself had previously split from the lineage of Pan, the chimpanzees.The line to the earliest members of Homo made final separation from the lineage of Pan by late Miocene or early Pliocene times—with date estimates by several specialists ranging from 13 million years ago to more recently than six million years ago.

• "Patterson et al. suggest that the apparently short divergence time between humans and chimpanzees on the X chromosome is explained by a massive interspecific hybridization event in the ancestry of these two species. However, Patterson et al. do not statistically test their own null model of simple speciation before concluding that speciation was complex, and—even if the null model could be rejected—they do not consider other explanations of a short divergence time on the X chromosome. These include natural selection on the X chromosome in the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, changes in the ratio of male-to-female mutation rates over time, and less extreme versions of divergence with gene flow. I therefore believe that their claim of hybridization is unwarranted." see current estimates regarding complex speciation.

Taxonomically, Homo is the only genus assigned to the subtribe Hominina which, with the subtribes Australopithecina and Panina, comprise the tribe Hominini (see evolutionary tree below). All species of the genus Homo plus those species of the australopithecines that arose after the split from Pan are called hominins.

Homo erectus appeared about two million years ago in East Africa (where it is dubbed Homo ergaster) and, in several early migrations, it spread throughout Africa and Eurasia. It was likely the first hominin to live in a hunter-gatherer society and to control fire. An adaptive and successful species, Homo erectus persisted for almost 2 million years before suddenly becoming extinct about 70,000 years ago (0.07 Ma)—perhaps a casualty of the Toba supereruption catastrophe.

Homo sapiens sapiens, or anatomically modern humans, emerged about 200,000 years ago (0.2 Ma) in East Africa (see Omo remains). There is division among scholars as to when H. s. sapiens became behaviorally modern; the debate is: modern behavior developed 1) simultaneously with anatomical development, or 2) separately, and was complete by 50,000 years ago (see Modern human behavior). Homo sapiens sapiens is the only surviving species and subspecies of the genus Homo; all others have become extinct.

Modern humans migrated from Africa as recently as 60,000 years ago, and during Upper Paleolithic times they spread throughout Africa, Eurasia, Oceania, and the Americas; and they encountered archaic humans en route of their migrations. Some archaic humans outside Africa survived alongside modern humans until about 40,000 years ago ( see H. neanderthalensis), and possibly until as late as the times of the Epipaleolithic culture (about 12,000 years ago). DNA analysis provides some evidence of interbreeding between archaic and modern humans, although some researchers have doubted these findings.

Homo is the taxonomical genus that includes modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens).

Homo may also refer to:

• ὅμο-, Greek prefix meaning "the same", opposite of "hetero-" (Greek ἕτερο- )
• Homo, an abbreviation for homogenized milk
• Homo-, in chemistry, a prefix indicating a homolog, an organic analog of next higher straight chain/ring size at some part of molecule
• HOMO, in chemistry, highest occupied molecular orbital
• Homo, Latin for "man", " human being"
• HomO, the Swedish Ombudsman against Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation
• Homo (slang), an abbreviation for "homosexual"
• Homo, wolfhound in Victor Hugo's novel The Man Who Laughs