sapien

S1A1P3I1E1N1

noun

A human, a specimen of Homo sapiens.

UncommonScrabble 8

Meanings

sapien1

nounsapien (plural sapiens)

plural sapiens

  1. proscribedrareA human, a specimen of Homo sapiens.

    [The superhero Mr. Incredible fights against a gorilla named Ungorilla.] Ungorilla: You foolish sapien! I am the Ungorilla! I possess the speed and strength of a very strong gorilla! How can you possibly defeat me?

    2009, The Incredibles (comic) #1, page 9
    1 more example

    Better still, with its larger brain Piltdown neatly fit the preconception of what earlier human forms should look like than did either the "primitive" Neanderthals or the small-minded Pithecanthropus skulls. Moreover, it meant that the sapien lineage (in England) could be traced independently of the decidedly more brutish and less human Neanderthals (from Northern Europe) to an earlier period, thereby testifying to the early appearance of an essentially modern human form.

    2015, David J. Meltzer, The Great Paleolithic War: How Science Forged an Understanding of America's Ice Age Past, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 279

Sapien2

proper nounSapien (plural Sapiens)

plural Sapiens

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. translingualHomo sapiens
  2. Englishsapien

The word is a singular form, derived by back-formation and shortening of translingual Homo sapiens by interpreting the latter as an English plural form. However, in Latin the word sapiens is strictly singular, its plural form being sapientes (and the Latin plural of homo sapiens is homines sapientes).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

sapien. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sapien

MLA

“sapien.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sapien. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sapien,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sapien.

Source: sapien on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.