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human

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

A highly intelligent ape with fine and short body hair.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

hyoomuhn

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhjumən

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. strictlybiology

    A highly intelligent ape with fine and short body hair; the most abundant species of primate, with members found on every continent (Homo sapiens).

  2. fantasyscience fictionmythology

    A human as contrasted from superficially similar but typically more powerful humanoid creatures; a member of the human race.

  3. Any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech, and erect carriage

  4. humorous

    The language supposedly spoken by humans

adjective

  1. comparable

    Having human form or attributes as opposed to those of animals or divine beings

  2. comparable

    Having the nature or attributes of a human being.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (strictly, biology) A highly intelligent ape with fine and short body hair; the most abundant species of primate, with members found on every continent (Homo sapiens).

Used this way, human is a specialist word with a clearly warm, approving pull. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Rich and abundant
Usage feel
Clinical and detached

Where it naturally appears

  • Science
  • Academic writing
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use human

  • “The experiment was conducted on 6 monkeys and 2 human subjects.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Having human form or attributes

human beingshuman body

Human

human race

Other combinations

human naturehuman relationshuman developmenthuman capitalhuman services

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • humansnounPlural form

    All of the living human inhabitants of the earth.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • humanitiesnounDerived noun · specialist

    Studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills).

  • humanitynounDerived noun

    The quality of being humane.

  • humanismnounDerived noun · specialist

    The doctrine that people's duty is to promote human welfare.

  • humanoidnounDerived noun · specialist

    An automaton that resembles a human being.

  • humanistadjectiveDerived adjective

    Related to A highly intelligent ape with fine and short body hair.

  • humanlyadverbDerived adverb

    In a way that relates to characteristic of humanity.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • human headnounCompound term

    The head of a human being.

  • human immunodeficiency virusnounCompound term

    The virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

  • human kneenounCompound term

    Hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella.

  • human language technologynounCompound term

    The branch of information science that deals with natural language information.

  • human naturenounCompound term

    The shared psychological attributes of humankind that are assumed to be shared by all human beings.

  • human palaeontologynounCompound term

    The scientific study of human fossils.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • humanitariannounRelated term

    Someone devoted to the promotion of human welfare and to social reforms.

  • humankindnounRelated term

    All of the living human inhabitants of the earth.

  • humanisticadjectiveRelated term

    Of or pertaining to a philosophy asserting human dignity and man's capacity for fulfillment through reason and scientific method and often rejecting religion.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: highly intelligent ape with fine and short body hair

hominidArchaic

adjective

Sense: having human form

anthropomorphicanthropoidhumanlikeRareindividual

Antonyms

noun

Sense: highly intelligent ape with fine and short body hair

nonhuman

adjective

Sense: having human form

nonhuman

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.