humanity

English

Etymology

From Middle English humanyte, humanite, humanitye, from Old French humanité, from Latin hūmānitās (“human nature, humanity, also humane conduct”), from hūmānus (“human, humane”); see human, humane.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hjuˈmænɪti/, [hjuˈmænɪɾi]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

humanity (countable and uncountable, plural humanities)

1. Mankind; human beings as a group.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […]; perhaps to moralise on the oneness or fragility of the planet, or to see humanity for the small and circumscribed thing that it is; […].

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:humankind

2. The human condition or nature.
3. 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!”

   Synonym: humaneness

4. Any academic subject belonging to the humanities.

   Philosophy is a humanity while psychology is a science.

Derived terms

• humanitarian
• humanitarianism

Related terms

• humanities
• humane

Translations

human beings as a group

• Armenian: մարդկություն (hy) (mardkutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: please add this translation if you can
• Bashkir: кешелек (keşelek)
• Basque: gizatasun
• Belarusian: чалавецтва n (čalavjectva)
• Bulgarian: човечество n (čovečestvo)
• Catalan: humanitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人類／人类 (zh) (rénlèi), 人类 (zh) (rénlèi)

• Czech: lidstvo (cs) n, lidé (cs) n pl
• Dutch: mensheid (nl) f, mensdom (nl) n, mensengeslacht (nl) n
• Esperanto: homaro (eo)
• Estonian: inimkond
• Finnish: ihmiskunta (fi)
• French: humanité (fr) f
• Galician: humanidade (gl) f
• Georgian: კაცობრიობა (ḳacobrioba), ადამიანთა მოდგმა (adamianta modgma)
• German: Menschheit (de) f
• Greek: ανθρωπότητα (el) f (anthropótita)
• Hungarian: emberiség (hu)
• Italian: umanità (it) f
• Japanese: 人類 (ja) (じんるい, jinrui)
• Korean: 인류 (ko) (illyu) (人類 (ko)), 인간 (ko) (in'gan) (人間 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

  Sorani:

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ladino: umanidad f
• Latvian: cilvēce f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Minschheit f, Menschheit f

• Maori: hunga tāngata
• Middle English: humanyte
• Old English: mancynn n
• Polish: człowieczeństwo (pl) n, ludzkość (pl) f
• Portuguese: humanidade (pt) f
• Quechua:

  Ecuadorian Kichwa: runakay

• Romanian: umanitate (ro) f, omenire (ro)
• Russian: челове́чество (ru) n (čelovéčestvo)
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: čłowječnosć f

• Spanish: humanidad (es) f
• Swedish: mänsklighet (sv)
• Turkish: insanlık (tr)
• Uzbek: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: מענטשהייט f (mentshheyt)
• Zulu: isintu (zu) class 7

human condition

• Bashkir: кешелек (keşelek)
• Bulgarian: човечност (bg) f (čovečnost)
• Catalan: humanitat (ca) f
• Czech: lidskost f, lidství n
• Dutch: mensheid (nl) f
• Estonian: inimsus
• Finnish: ihmisyys (fi)
• French: humanité (fr) f
• Georgian: ადამიანობა (adamianoba)
• German: Humanität (de) f, Menschlichkeit (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: ανθρώπινη υπόσταση f (anthrópini ypóstasi)
• Italian: umanità (it) f
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

• Middle English: humanyte
• Old English: mennisċnes f
• Polish: człowieczeństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: humanidade (pt) f
• Swedish: mänsklighet (sv)
• Zulu: ubuntu class 14

quality of being benevolent

• Arabic: إنسانية
• Armenian: մարդկություն (hy) (mardkutʻyun)
• Bashkir: кешелек (keşelek), кешелеклек (keşeleklek), кешелеклелек (keşeleklelek)
• Bulgarian: хуманност (bg) f (humannost)
• Catalan: humanitat (ca) f
• Czech: lidskost f, humanita f, humánnost f
• Dutch: menselijkheid (nl) f, menslievendheid (nl) f, humaniteit (nl) f
• Estonian: inimlikkus (et), humaansus
• Finnish: humaanisuus (fi)
• French: humanité (fr) f
• Georgian: ადამიანურობა (adamianuroba)
• German: Humanität (de) f, Menschlichkeit (de) f
• Greek: ανθρωπιά (el) f (anthropiá)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: emberség (hu)
• Italian: benevolenza (it) f
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

• Latvian: cilvēcība f, cilvēcigums m, humanitāte f
• Middle English: humanyte
• Old English: mennisċlīcnes f
• Polish: człowieczeństwo (pl) n, humanitaryzm m, humanitarność f
• Portuguese: humanidade (pt) f, benevolência (pt) f
• Romanian: bunătate (ro) f, benevolență f
• Russian: челове́чность (ru) f (čelovéčnostʹ), гума́нность (ru) f (gumánnostʹ)
• Swedish: mänsklighet (sv) c, medmänsklighet (sv)
• Zulu: ubuntu class 14

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 人間性
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 인류 (ko) (illyu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} humanitas f
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 人類／人类 (zh) (rénlèi), ^{(please verify)} 人类 (zh) (rénlèi)

Further reading

• “humanity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “humanity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• "humanity" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 148.