human

[ hyoo-muh n or, often, yoo‐ ]
/ ˈhyu mən or, often, ˈyu‐ /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR human ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people: human frailty.
consisting of people: the human race.
of or relating to the social aspect of people: human affairs.
sympathetic; humane: a warmly human understanding.

noun

a human being.

Origin of human

1350–1400; earlier humain(e), humayn(e), Middle English < Middle French humain < Latin hūmānus, akin to homō human being (cf. Homo); spelling human predominant from early 18th cent.

synonym study for human

1. 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).

pronunciation note for human

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

OTHER WORDS FROM human

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH human

human humane (see synonym study at the current entry)

Words nearby human

hulse, huly, hum, hum tone, humacao, human, human antihemophilic factor, human being, human body, human capital, human chorionic gonadotropin

Words related to humanness

society, humankind, mankind, people

Example sentences from the Web for humanness

British Dictionary definitions for humanness

human
/ (ˈhjuːmən) /

adjective

of, characterizing, or relating to man and mankind human nature
consisting of people the human race; a human chain
having the attributes of man as opposed to animals, divine beings, or machines human failings
  1. kind or considerate
  2. natural

noun

a human being; person

Other words from human

Related prefix: anthropo-

Derived forms of human

human-like, adjective humanness, noun

Word Origin for human

C14: from Latin hūmānus; related to Latin homō man

Scientific definitions for humanness

human
[ hyōō′mən ]

A member of the species Homo sapiens; a human being.
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.

Idioms and Phrases with humanness

human

see milk of human kindness.