Men were the Secondborn of the Children of Ilúvatar: they awoke in Middle-earth later (indeed much later) than the Elves. Men (and Hobbits) were the last humanoid race to appear in Middle-earth: Dwarves, Ents and Orcs also preceded them. The capitalized term Man (plural Men) is used as a gender-neutral racial description, to distinguish humans from the other human-like races of Middle-earth.