humanity

English

Etymology

From Middle English humanitye, from Old French humanité, from Latin humanitas (“human nature, humanity, also humane conduct”), from humanus (“human, humane”); see human, humane. The interjection was first used ("Oh, the humanity!") by Herbert Morrison reporting on the Hindenburg disaster.

Pronunciation

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Noun

humanity (uncountable)

Mankind; human beings as a group.
The human condition or nature.
The quality of being benevolent.
Humane traits of character; humane qualities or aspects.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 16
  Think of that; by that sweet girl that old man had a child: hold ye then there can be any utter, hopeless harm in Ahab? No, no, my lad; stricken, blasted, if he be, Ahab has his humanities!”

Synonyms

(benevolence): humaneness
See also Wikisaurus:humankind

Related terms

Derived terms

Translations

human beings as a group

Catalan: humanitat (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 人類 (cmn), 人类 (cmn) (rénlèi)
Czech: lidstvo (cs) n
Dutch: mensheid f, mensdom n, mensengeslacht n
Estonian: inimkond (et)
Finnish: ihmiskunta (fi)
French: humanité (fr) f
German: Menschheit (de) f
Greek: ανθρωπότητα (el) (anthropótita) f
Italian: umanità (it) f
Japanese: 人類 (ja) (じんるい, jinrui)

Korean: 인류 (ko) (inryu) (人類 (ko)), 인간 (ko) (in-gan) (人間 (ko))
Kurdish:
Kurmanji: mirovatî (ku) f

Sorani: مرۆڤایه‌تی
Latvian: cilvēce (lv) f
Portuguese: humanidade (pt) f
Romanian: umanitate (ro) f, omenire (ro)
Russian: человечество (ru) (čelovéčestvo) n
Spanish: humanidad (es) f
Swedish: mänsklighet (sv)
Turkish: insanlık (tr)
Zulu: isintu (zu) 7

human condition

Catalan: humanitat (ca) f
Dutch: mensheid (nl) f
Estonian: inimsus (et)
Finnish: ihmisyys (fi)
French: humanité (fr) f
German: Humanität (de) f, Menschlichkeit (de) f

Greek: ανθρώπινη υπόστασηf
Italian: umanità (it) f
Kurdish:
Kurmanji: mirovatî (ku) f
Portuguese: humanidade (pt) f
Swedish: mänsklighet (sv)
Zulu: ubuntu (zu) 14

quality of being benevolent

Catalan: humanitat (ca) f
Dutch: menselijkheid f, menslievendheid f, humaniteit f
Estonian: inimlikkus (et), humaansus (et)
Finnish: humaanisuus (fi)
French: humanité (fr) f
German: Humanität (de) f, Menschlichkeit (de) f
Greek: ανθρωπιά (el) (anthropiá) f
Italian: benevolenza (it) f

Kurdish:
Kurmanji: mirovatî (ku) f
Latvian: cilvēcība (lv) f, cilvēcigums (lv) m, humanitāte (lv) f
Romanian: bunătate (ro) f, benevolență (ro) f
Russian: человечность (ru) (čelovéčnost') f, гуманность (ru) (gumánnost') f
Swedish: mänsklighet (sv) c, medmänsklighet (sv)
Zulu: ubuntu (zu) 14

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