humanity

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English humanyte, humanite, humanitye. By surface analysis, human +‎ -ity. Partly displaced mankind, from Old English mancynn (literally “human race”).

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /hjuˈmænɪti/, [hjuˈmænɪɾi]
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

humanity (countable and uncountable, plural humanities)

Humankind; 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.
- 1962 April, J. N. Faulkner, “Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways, page 265:
  At last the concourse is relatively clear of humanity and the task of clearing up can begin.
- 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
The human condition or nature.
The quality of being benevolent; humane traits of character; humane qualities or aspects.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 16”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:
  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
Any academic subject belonging to the humanities.
Philosophy is a humanity while psychology is a science.

Derived terms

crime against humanity
humanitarian
humanitarianism

Related terms

humanities
humane

Translations

human beings as a group — See also translations at mankind

Arabic: بَشَرِيَّة‎ f (bašariyya), إِنْسَانِيَّة‎ f (ʾinsāniyya)
Armenian: մարդկություն (hy) (mardkutʿyun)
Bashkir: кешелек (keşelek)
Basque: gizatasun
Belarusian: чалаве́цтва n (čalavjéctva)
Bulgarian: чове́чество n (čovéčestvo)
Catalan: humanitat (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 人類／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
Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌴𐌸𐍃 f (manasēþs)
Greek: ανθρωπότητα (el) f (anthropótita)
Hungarian: emberiség (hu)
Icelandic: mannkyn (is) n
Italian: umanità (it) f
Japanese: 人類 (ja) (じんるい, jinrui)
Korean: 인류(人類) (ko) (illyu), 인간(人間) (ko) (in'gan)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: مرۆڤایەتی‎ (mrovayetî)
Northern Kurdish: mirovatî (ku) f
Ladino: umanidad f
Latvian: cilvēce f
Lithuanian: žmonija f
Low German:
German Low German: Minschheit f, Menschheit f
Macedonian: човештво n (čoveštvo)
Maori: hunga tāngata
Middle English: humanyte
Old English: mancynn n
Persian: بشریت‎ (fa) (bašariyat), انسانیت‎ (fa) (ensâniyat)
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)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: (Ekavian) човеча̀нство n, (Ijekavian) човјеча̀нство n, љу̀дство n
Roman: (Ekavian) čovečànstvo n, (Ijekavian) čovječànstvo (sh) n, ljùdstvo (sh) n
Slovak: ľudstvo n
Slovene: človeštvo (sl) n
Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: čłowječnosć f
Spanish: humanidad (es) f
Swedish: mänsklighet (sv) c
Tajik: башарият (bašariyat), инсоният (tg) (insoniyat)
Turkish: insanlık (tr)
Ukrainian: лю́дство n (ljúdstvo)
Welsh: dynoliaeth (cy) f
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
Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍉𐌳𐌿𐍃 m (manniskōdus)
Greek: ανθρώπινη υπόσταση f (anthrópini ypóstasi)
Ancient: ἀνθρωπότης (anthrōpótēs)
Italian: umanità (it) f
Kazakh: адамдық (adamdyq)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: mirovatî (ku) f
Latin: humanitas f
Middle English: humanyte
Old English: mennisċnes f
Polish: człowieczeństwo (pl) n
Portuguese: humanidade (pt) f
Swedish: mänsklighet (sv) c
Turkish: insanlık (tr), insaniyet (tr)
Zulu: ubuntu (zu) class 14

quality of being benevolent

Arabic: إنسانية‎
Armenian: մարդկություն (hy) (mardkutʿyun)
Bashkir: кешелек (keşelek), кешелеклек (keşeleklek), кешелеклелек (keşeleklelek)
Bengali: ইনসানিয়াত (bn) (insaniyat)
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
Esperanto: humaneco
Estonian: inimlikkus (et), humaansus
Finnish: humaanisuus (fi)
French: humanité (fr) f
Galician: humanidade (gl) f
Georgian: ადამიანურობა (adamianuroba)
German: Humanität (de) f, Menschlichkeit (de) f
Greek: ανθρωπιά (el) f (anthropiá)
Hungarian: emberség (hu)
Italian: benevolenza (it) f
Kazakh: адамгершілік (adamgerşılık)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: mirovatî (ku) f
Latvian: cilvēcība f, cilvēcigums m, humanitāte f
Malayalam: മനുഷ്യത്വം (ml) (manuṣyatvaṃ)
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) c
Turkish: insani (tr)
Zulu: ubuntu (zu) 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
Latin: ^{(please verify)} hūmānitās f