How Do You Describe Humans Without Explicitly Saying "They're Human"?

[powerplantanimations]

Weird question, but I figured I ask this because in this webnovel/lorebook thingy I'm working on, I wasn't sure how I would describe these two races since they look exactly like humans.... and humans won't exist for another billion.

Is it best to describe what they look like the moment of their conception? Or should I do what I'm currently doing where I don't give details as to what they look like until like three chapters later where the narrator, a goddess, creates a prophecy revolving around Earth and then out of nowhere says "for some reason the humans look exactly like you".

I figured the latter would be a funny reveal? Narrative wise, the goddess is recounting the history of her zealots and they've already indoctrinated the universe at this point. Everyone knows what they look like, so I figured the best way to explain their appearance would be in an indirect fashion.

OR should I do both where I describe them, but the details seem a little vague to the point where I confuse the reader, giving them room to picture them as however they want, only for them to be like "WAIT, THEY LOOK EXACTLY LIKE US?!?".

[MaxFF]

Bipeds, or bipedal maybe? Thats incomplete but it does describe humans and any alien that would resemble them.

[powerplantanimations]

YEAH BIPEDS! I can't believe I forgot about that.

[Aeneas1]

I just call them Muttongarders. I leave some hints that Muttongard is what the inhabitants of the World Oak call our world. One of my goals was to create a fantasy setting without featuring any major human characters because I was so sick of seeing them in fantasy settings all the time, even in settings it wouldn’t make sense for them to be in, viz. Runeterra, the World of Twelve, et cetera. Therefore, they don’t get a lot of focus, and even then that focus is largely negative.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

hairless monkeys
evolved monkeys
immature monkeys
Or will monkeys not be in existence yet, either?
Biped only means something that walks on two legs.

[Inspector]

Homosapiens is all I can think of

[LunarScyphozoa]

But are they featherless?

[MaxFF]

You make a good point. Featherless bipeds with broad flat nails would be a much better description of aliens that happen to resemble humans.

[NickRowler]

In my series, I call humaniods “people”.

Mer-people and humans are both people but a mer-person is not a human.

[lizardlullabye]

They were "penguins" in all context that mattered. They walked on two feet and could not fly.

You can just describe them as any other animal for whatever context the goddess think is important. It's just their human appearance is not.

[mrtoontastic]

I mean, you can call them a few terms...

• Overlander
• Two-legs
• Bipedal
• Hairless Ape
• Skinfreak
• Skinny
• Furless
• Leather
• Stretchface

[powerplantanimations]

Monkeys can't work.

@Inspector Homosapiens can't work either. Plus I feel like that isn't vague enough like "Bipeds".

[PrettiMidnight]

omnivorous organic life form

[DasIstWunderblyat]

A "𖨆"

[Kazuha_Kirito]

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[Innocynce]

The exact line you were using, except use the word: "People" which can be vague if you have multiple intelligent species in
your story

[AmazementComics]

Mortals, anthropoids, persons?