a member of an extinct subspecies of powerful, physically robust humans, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, that inhabited Europe and western and central Asia c100,000–40,000 b.c.
Origin
1860-65
British Dictionary definitions for Neanderthal man
Neanderthal man
noun
1.
a type of primitive man, Homo neanderthalensis, or H. sapiens neanderthalensis, occurring throughout much of Europe in late Palaeolithic times: it is thought that they did not interbreed with other early humans and are not the ancestors of modern humans
Word Origin
C19: from the anthropological findings (1857) in the Neandertal, a valley near Düsseldorf, Germany