human

[ hyoo-muhnor, often, yoo‑ ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people:

   human frailty.

2. consisting of people:

   the human race.

3. of or relating to the social aspect of people:

   human affairs.

4. sympathetic; humane:

   a warmly human understanding.

noun

1. a human being.

human

/ ˈhjuːmən /

adjective

1. of, characterizing, or relating to man and mankind

   human nature

2. consisting of people

   a human chain

   the human race

3. having the attributes of man as opposed to animals, divine beings, or machines

   human failings

4. 1. kind or considerate
   2. natural

noun

1. a human being; person

human

/ hyo̅o̅′mən /

1. A member of the species Homo sapiens; a human being.
2. A member of any of the extinct species of the genus Homo, such as Homo erectus or Homo habilis, that are considered ancestral or closely related to modern humans.

Pronunciation Note

Pronunciations of words like human, huge, etc., with the initial [h] deleted: [yoo, -m, uh, n], [yooj], while sometimes criticized, are heard from speakers at all social and educational levels, including professors, lawyers, and other public speakers.

Derived Forms

• ˈhuman-ˌlike, adjective
• ˈhumanness, noun

Other Words From

• hu·man·like adjective
• hu·man·ness noun
• half-hu·man adjective
• in·ter·hu·man adjective
• o·ver·hu·man adjective
• pseu·do·hu·man adjective
• qua·si-hu·man adjective
• qua·si-hu·man·ly adverb
• trans·hu·man adjective
• ul·tra·hu·man adjective
• un·hu·man adjective
• un·hu·man·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of human¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; earlier humain(e), humayn(e), Middle English, from Middle French humain, from Latin hūmānus, akin to homō “human being”; Homo ( def ); spelling human predominant from early 18th century

Word History and Origins

Origin of human¹

C14: from Latin hūmānus; related to Latin homō man

Idioms and Phrases

see milk of human kindness .

Synonym Study

Human, humane may refer to that which is, or should be, characteristic of human beings. In thus describing characteristics, human may refer to good and bad traits of a person alike ( human kindness; human weakness ). When emphasis is placed upon the latter, human is thought of as contrasted to divine: To err is human, to forgive divine. He was only human. Humane (the original spelling of human, and since 1700 restricted in meaning) takes into account only the nobler or gentler aspects of people and is often contrasted to their more ignoble or brutish aspect. A humane person is benevolent in treating fellow humans or helpless animals; the word once had also connotations of courtesy and refinement (hence, the application of humane to those branches of learning intended to refine the mind).

Example Sentences

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, owns Calico, a startup researching ways to extend human life spans.

From Fortune

The data centers of the future will require less human involvement, instead being managed and run primarily by technologies like robotics and AI.

From Singularity Hub 

Fortune has learned that Nadia Rawlinson, the former chief human resources officer for Live Nation Entertainment, is joining the company at the end of the month.

From Fortune

All of these themes were woven into Bernard Tyson’s holistic vision of human health.

From Fortune

“The report lays out very, very well just how rare it’s going to be that people actually need to access heritable human-genome editing,” said Jackie Leach Scully at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

From Singularity Hub 

The editors, writers, and cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo were human beings with families, friends, and loved ones.

From The Daily Beast

It is the summit of human happiness: the surrender of man to God, of woman to man, of several women to the same man.

From The Daily Beast

Our animators are very excited to be drawing the innards of a human being.

From The Daily Beast

Petty, shade, and thirst are my favorite human “virtues” and the trifecta of any good series of “stories.”

From The Daily Beast

The billionaire philanthropist tastes the product of a machine that processes human sewage into drinking water and electricity.

From The Daily Beast

After all, may not even John Burns be human; may not Mr. Chamberlain himself have a heart that can feel for another?

From Project Gutenberg

He must trust to his human merits, and not miracles, for his Sonship is of no value in this conflict.

From Project Gutenberg

How is it that one instant of time should work those effects in the human mind which are so lasting in their results!

From Project Gutenberg

Few persons can attain to adult life without being profoundly impressed by the appalling inequalities of our human lot.

From Project Gutenberg

But there is a pinnacle of human success and of human opinion, on which human foot was never yet permitted to rest.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• body
• character
• child
• creature
• individual
• life
• mortal