human

[hyoo-muh n or, often, yoo‐] /ˈhyu mən or, often, ˈyu‐/

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

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.

Related forms

humanlike, adjective

humanness, noun

half-human, adjective

interhuman, adjective

overhuman, adjective

pseudohuman, adjective

quasi-human, adjective

quasi-humanly, adverb

transhuman, adjective

ultrahuman, adjective

unhuman, adjective

unhumanly, adverb

unhumanness, noun

Can be confused

human, humane (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonym Study

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

Pronunciations of words like human, huge, etc., with the initial [h] /h/ (Show IPA) 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.

Examples from the web for human

The human gene pool was then missing the genes of those people.
How to respond to people who doubt the human impact on the climate.
Cutting people out of the hiring process might mitigate our biases, but it also mitigates the human touch of hiring.
These articles report on abuses of human rights around the world.
When a human egg is fertilized, it begins to multiply.
People may not be quite the humans they think they are.
Some might like it hot, but extreme heat can overpower the human body.
When it comes to the impact of farm antibiotics on human health, there's a data gap.
Projecting human feelings onto dogs is always risky.
Scientists say the final draft of the human genome sequence is finished.

British Dictionary definitions for human

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

kind or considerate
natural

noun

a human being; person

prefix anthropo-

Derived Forms

human-like, adjective
humanness, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Latin hūmānus; related to Latin homō man

Word Origin and History for human

adj.

mid-15c., humain, humaigne, from Old French humain, umain (adj.) "of or belonging to man" (12c.), from Latin humanus "of man, human," also "humane, philanthropic, kind, gentle, polite; learned, refined, civilized," probably related to homo (genitive hominis) "man" (see homunculus) and to humus "earth," on notion of "earthly beings," as opposed to the gods (cf. Hebrew adam "man," from adamah "ground"). Cognate with Old Lithuanian zmuo (accusative zmuni) "man, male person."

As a noun, from 1530s. Its Old English cognate guma (from Proto-Germanic *guman-) survives only in disguise in bridegroom. Related: Humanness. Human rights attested by 1680s; human being by 1690s. Human relations is from 1916; human resources attested by 1907, American English, apparently originally among social Christians and drawn from natural resources.

human in Science

human

(hy'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 human

human

see: milk of human kindness