caveman

English

Etymology

From cave +‎ man, based on the supposition that early humans dwelt in caves.

Pronunciation

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Hyphenation: cave‧man

Noun

caveman (plural cavemen)

An early human or closely related species, popularly held to reside in caves.
The political cartoon showed the politician as a caveman, clubbing the budget depicted as a mammoth.
- 2006, Harley Pasternak, The 5 Factor Diet‎, page 15:
  CAVEMAN DIET
  The creators of this nutrition plan believe that cavemen and cavewomen were lean and healthy because of the all-natural foods they ate.
- 2010, Terence A. Shimp, Advertising, Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Cengage Learning, 8th Edition, page 154,
  And who could forget those ads that featured sophisticated cavemen who were insulted—in a parody on political correctness—by “insensitive” offenders who implied that some action was “so easy, a caveman could do it.”
- 2010, Allen A. Debus, Prehistoric Monsters: The Real and Imagined Creatures of the Past That We Love to Fear‎, page 87:
  For, in essence, the caveman concept implies the abhorrent—undignified human bestiality and a disquieting association with apelike ancestors. Cavemen have represented Darwin′s repugnant evolutionary ideals and even suggest civilisation′s tenuousness.
(informal, figuratively, derogatory) A person with backward, primitive behavior, opinions, or interests.
- 2008, David E. Clarke, Cinderella Meets the Caveman: Stop the Boredom in Your Marriage and Jump, page 159,
  You think your Caveman is always chasing you for sex. Well, he is.
1. (informal, figuratively, derogatory) A brutish person, one who behaves in a rough, uncivilized way.
  The football squad was made up of cavemen who were responsible for trashing many a locker room.
  - 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed‎:
    "Bless you, he would think nothing of throwing you downstairs if you have a disagreement. He is a primitive cave-man in a lounge suit. I can see him with a club in one hand and a jagged bit of flint in the other."
2. (informal, figuratively, derogatory) Someone, especially a man, who has regressive, old-fashioned attitudes, particularly with regard to women; someone opposed to change or modernity.
  Old Sven is a bit of a caveman; he figures giving women the right to vote was a bad idea.
  Pat is a real caveman when it comes to tech, and refuses to get a smartphone.

Synonyms

(early humans or related species): hominid, hominin, Neanderthal, troglodyte
(brutish or savage person): boor, knuckle dragger, lout, Neanderthal, savage, thug, troglodyte
(person with regressive opinions): male chauvinist, Neanderthal,

Hypernyms

cave dweller

Coordinate terms

cavewoman

Derived terms

cavemanlike

Translations

early humans or related species

Arabic: رَجُل كَهْف‎ m (rajul kahf)
Armenian: քարանձավաբնակ (hy) (kʿaranjavabnak), անձավաբնակ (hy) (anjavabnak)
Bulgarian: пеще́рен чове́к m (peštéren čovék)
Catalan: cavernícola m or f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 穴居人 (zh) (xuéjūrén)
Czech: jeskynní muž m
Danish: huleboer c, hulemenneske
Dutch: holbewoner (nl)
Faroese: hellisbúgvi m, holubúgvi m
Finnish: luolamies (fi)
French: homme des cavernes (fr) m
Galician: cavernícola m or f
German: Höhlenmensch (de) m
Greek: σπηλαιάνθρωπος m (spilaiánthropos), άνθρωπος των σπηλαίων (el) m (ánthropos ton spilaíon)
Ancient: τρωγλοδύτης m (trōglodútēs)
Icelandic: hellisbúi m
Italian: cavernicolo (it) m, troglodita (it) m
Japanese: 穴居人 (けっきょじん, kekkyojin)
Korean: 동굴 거주인 (donggul geoju'in)
Latvian: alu cilvēks m, troglodīts m
Lithuanian: urvinis žmogus m
Macedonian: пештерски човек m (pešterski čovek)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hulemenneske
Nynorsk: holemenneske
Polish: człowiek jaskiniowy m, jaskiniowiec (pl) m
Portuguese: cavernícola (pt) m or f, homem das cavernas (pt) m
Russian: пеще́рный челове́к m (peščérnyj čelovék), троглоди́т (ru) m (troglodít)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: пећинар m, пећинарка f
Roman: pećinar m, pećinarka f
Spanish: cavernícola (es) m, hombre de las cavernas m, troglodita (es) m, cavernario m, hombre prehistórico m
Swedish: grottmänniska (sv) c
Turkish: mağara adamı

a brutish or savage person

Portuguese: homem das cavernas (pt)

a man with old fashioned or backward opinions, particularly with regard to women

Portuguese: homem das cavernas (pt)

Anagrams

man cave, mancave