Denisovan
/dɨˈnɪsəvən/
Denisovan adjective: of or pertaining to an extinct grouping of the genus Homo that lived in the Altay Mountains some 41,000 years ago. Of the species Homo longi (“Dragon Man”).
Adjective
Denisovan (not comparable)
- Of or pertaining to an extinct grouping of the genus Homo that lived in the Altay Mountains some 41,000 years ago. Of the species Homo longi (“Dragon Man”).
- Denisovan Man is the first human relative to have been identified purely from DNA, extracted from the bone and a tooth found in the Denisova cave in the Altai mountains of southern Siberia.2010 December 23, Hannah Devlin, “Unknown Species of Man Identified from Cave DNA”, in The Times, page 17
- A molar tooth, measuring around 1.5cm on each side and found at the site in 2000, also belongs to a Denisovan individual.2010 December 23, Ian Sample, "Finger Bone Points to New Human Line", The Guardian, international section, page 18
Noun
Denisovan (plural Denisovans)
- A member of an extinct grouping of the genus Homo that lived in the Altay Mountains some 41,000 years ago. A member of the species Homo longi (“Dragon Man”).
- And yet, despite their having the entire genome of a Denisovan, Dr. Paabo cannot say much yet about what they were like.2010 December 23, Carl Zimmer, “Scant Remains Reveal Ancient Neanderthal Cousins”, in The New York Times, page A14
- …this was only the third fossil ever found of a Denisovan, the others being the bit of finger bone and another molar, also from Denisova cave.2011 August 26, Ann Gibbons, “Who Were the Denisovans?”, in Science, volume 33, page 1084
Examples of Denisovan in a sentence
- It is the only known place on the planet where three types of humans — Denisovan, Neanderthal and modern — lived, probably not all at once.2012 February 1, Alanna Mitchell, “DNA Turning Human Story Into a Tell-All”, in The New York Times, page D1:
- The researchers were even able to split and analyze the two strands of the Denisovan's DNA, and thus differentiate the contributions of each parent.2012 August 31, John Lauerman, "Ancient Genome, Modern Brains", The Gazette (Montreal), page A2
Forms of Denisovan
| plural | Denisovans |
|---|
Origin of Denisovan
From Denisova Cave, where Denisovan remains were discovered, + -an.
Questions about Denisovan
- What does Denisovan mean?
- Denisovan means of or pertaining to an extinct grouping of the genus Homo that lived in the Altay Mountains some 41,000 years ago. Of the species Homo longi (“Dragon Man”).
- How do you use Denisovan in a sentence?
- It is the only known place on the planet where three types of humans — Denisovan, Neanderthal and modern — lived, probably not all at once.
- What part of speech is Denisovan?
- Denisovan can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce Denisovan?
- Denisovan is pronounced /dɨˈnɪsəvən/.
Words near Denisovan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Denisovan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Denisovan.wav.
Cite this entry: “Denisovan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/denisovan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.