A human is a member of a species of bipedal primates in the family Hominidae (taxonomically lang: Homo sapiens—Latin: "wise human" or "knowing human"). DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection and problem solving. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees the forelimbs (arms) for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. Humans are distributed worldwide, with significant populations inhabiting most land areas of Earth, as well as large numbers of humans at any particular moment flying in vehicles through the atmosphere, many others traveling over and beneath the oceans, and even a few individuals living in low Earth orbit. The human population on Earth is greater than 6.7 billion, as of February 2009. There is only one extant subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens. As of the present time, humans are a dominant form of biological life, in terms of their distribution and effect on the biosphere.

Like most higher primates, humans are social by nature. Humans are particularly adept at utilizing systems of communication—primarily spoken, gestural, and written language—for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families to nations. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of traditions, rituals, ethics, values, social norms, and laws, which together form the basis of human society. Human culture shows a marked appreciation for beauty and aesthetics, which, combined with the desire for self-expression and proportionally a very large brain-size, has led to innovations such as art, writing, literature and music.

Homo sapiens, as a species, is notable for the desire of some of its individual members to understand and influence the environment around them, seeking to explain and manipulate natural phenomena through philosophy, art, science, mythology and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skills. Humans are the only species known to build fires, cook their food, and clothe themselves; as well as utilize numerous other technologies. Humans pass down their skills and knowledge to the next generations and so are regarded as dependent upon culture.

Name

see: List of alternative names for the human species The English adjective human is a Middle English loan from Old French lang: humain, ultimately from Latin lang: hūmānus, the adjective of lang: homō "man". Use as a noun (with a plural humans) dates to the 16th century. The native English term man is now often reserved for male adults, but can still be used for "mankind" in general in Modern English. The word is from Proto-Germanic lang: *mannaz, from a Proto-Indo-European(PIE) root PIE: *man-, cognate to Sanskrit manu-.