humane

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /hjuˈmeɪn/ UK /hjuːˈmeɪn/ See IPA manual

Freq #14662

Meanings

1

adj
Showing kindness and care, and trying to avoid causing pain or suffering.

They campaigned for the more humane treatment of farm animals.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · showing kindness and care,... compassionate

More mankindly

Opposites

inhuman inhumanenonhumane

Word family

Forms humanelyhumanerhumanest

Derived forms humanelyhumanenesshumanewashhumanewashinghumaniachumanize

Related forms human humanist humanitarian humanity

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

humane education
An education centered on the humanities, including literature, history, and philosophy.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English humain, humayne, from Old French humain, umain, from Latin hūmānus, from Latin homō (“man”). Cognate with Old English guma (“man”), whence the groom in English bridegroom.

humain Middle English hūmānus Latin homō Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# humane

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /hjuˈmeɪn/
**IPA (UK):** /hjuːˈmeɪn/
**Frequency rank:** 14662

## Meanings
1. Showing kindness and care, and trying to avoid causing pain or suffering.

## Examples
- They campaigned for the more humane treatment of farm animals.

## Synonyms
- mankindly

## Antonyms
- inhuman
- inhumane
- nonhumane

## Derived Forms
- humanely
- humaneness
- humanewash
- humanewashing
- humaniac
- humanize

## Related Forms
- human
- humanist
- humanitarian
- humanity

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: humain
- Root: hūmānus
- Root: homō

## Etymology
From Middle English humain, humayne, from Old French humain, umain, from Latin hūmānus, from Latin homō (“man”). Cognate with Old English guma (“man”), whence the groom in English bridegroom.

## AI Etymology
Humane comes from Middle English humain, humayne, from Old French humain, umain, from Latin hūmānus, from Latin homō (“man”). Cognate with Old English guma (“man”), whence the groom in English bridegroom. In current use, the main sense is “Showing kindness and care, and trying to avoid causing pain or suffering”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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