apemen

Noun

apeman (plural apemen)

1. A prehistoric man resembling an ape, especially one held to be a precursor to modern humans; a non-human australopithecine.
   • Only above the eyebrows, where the sloping forehead and low, curved skull of the ape-man were in sharp contrast to the broad brow and magnificent cranium of the European, could one see any marked difference.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
2. A human raised from childhood by apes (generally in reference to, or in imitation of, the fictional character Tarzan).
   • How may we judge him, by what standards, this ape-man with the heart and head and body of an English gentleman, and the training of a wild beast?1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, page 115
3. A reputed or legendary, large, bipedal, ape-like creature, as Bigfoot or the Yeti, or a primitive australopithecine still extant today.