# human being
## English
### Etymology

human (adjective) +‎ being (noun). The word human was originally an adjective, thus requiring a base noun.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌhjuːmən ˈbiːɪŋ/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

human being (plural human beings)
* A person; a large sapient, bipedal primate, with notably less hair than others of that order, of the species Homo sapiens.
** 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, VII xiv:He began to reflect that in a few Minutes he might possibly deprive a human Being of Life, or might lose his own.
* Any member of the genus Homo, including extinct species.
** 1983, Valjean McLenighan, China, A History to 1949‎, Chicago: Children's Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 10:The first real human beings in China lived about 600,000 years ago. Fossils of Gigantopithecus, a Latin name for Giant Ape, were dug up at Lan-t'ien in the early 1960s. Though they looked a lot like apes, the Lan-t'ien people were among the first of our species to make tools.
** 2002, Hyun Höchsmann, On Peter Singer, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, →ISBN, page 2:As Australopithecus evolved into the first human being, Homo habilis, and then into the species, Homo sapiens, we have evolved as social beings
** 2006, P. & C. Zaleski, Prayer: A History, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 15:Who was the first human being to pray? Perhaps he or she was a member of Homo habilis, the first truly human species, who roamed the gorges and plains of sub-Saharan Africa about two million years ago, or perhaps a member of Homo erectus (1.6 million—300,000 B.C.E.), Homo habilis’s immediate descendants, who spread across half the globe, from the eastern plains of Asia to the valleys of northern Europe.
** 2006, M.S. Green, Engaging Philosophy, Hackett, →ISBN, page 143:The category “human being” is a biological one, and Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, and Homo floresiensis all belong in it.
** 2007, K. Kotsakis, “Tools and language”, in A.F. Christidis, editor, A History of Ancient Greek, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 106:A specific part of the left hemisphere, known as Broca's area, which is associated in modern humans with speech production, has already been observed in casts of the brain of homo habilis, the first human being to make tools
** 2009, B. Waters, Zambia in Pictures, Twenty-First Century Books, →ISBN, page 20:At several sites in Zambia, archaeologists have found stone tools dating back more than 200,000 years. The people who created these tools were probably Homo erectus, an early type of human being.
** 2014, S. Rasmussen, The Greatest Safari: In the Beginning Was Africa, 30 Degrees South, →ISBN, pages 223–224:We have an idea that the first human being, Homo habilis, was the fruit of an Australopithecus – either africanus or garhi – and that it subsequently developed into the upright human Homo erectus, from which both the Neanderthal and the modern human being derive
** 2018, H. Foyaca-Sibat, L.F. Ibañez-Valdés, “Introductory Chapter”, in H. Foyaca-Sibat, editor, Seizures, →DOI, →ISBN, page 2:Probably the first human being infected by Taenia solium was the Homo ergaster [1, 2]. Therefore, the history of epileptic seizures began at the Lower Pleistocene (between 1.51 and 1.56 million years ago) when H. ergaster lived.

#### Synonyms

* featherless biped
* human
* human bean
* man
* naked ape
* person
* sapiens
* See also Thesaurus:person

#### Translations

Abkhaz: ауаҩы (awajʷə)
Adyghe: цӏыфы (cʼəfə)
Ainu: アイヌ (aynu)
Albanian: njeri (sq) m
Amharic: ሰው (säw)
Arabic: إِنْسَان (ar) m (ʔinsān), نَاس pl (nās) (plural), بَشَر (ar) m (bašar), اِبْن آدَم m (ibn ʔādam, literally “son of Adam”), إِنْس m (ʔins)
Egyptian Arabic: بنى آدم m (baniʔādam)(informal)
Aramaic:
Hebrew: אנשא c (nāshā)
Syriac: ܐܢܫܐ c (nāshā)
Armenian: մարդ (hy) (mard)
Assamese: মানৱ (manow)
Avar: гӏадан (ʻadan), инсан (insan), чи (či)
Aymara: jaqi (ay)
Azerbaijani: insan (az), adam (az), kişi (az)
Bashkir: кеше (keşe), әҙәм (əźəm), инсан (insan)
Belarusian: чалаве́к (be) m (čalavjék), лю́дзі pl (ljúdzi) (plural)
Bengali: মানুষ (bn) (manuś), মানব (bn) (manob)
Bulgarian: чове́к (bg) m (čovék), хо́ра (bg) pl (hóra) (plural), лю́де pl (ljúde) (plural)
Burmese: ပုဂ္ဂိုလ် (my) (pugguil), လူ (my) (lu)
Buryat: хүн (xün)
Catalan: ésser humà m, humà (ca) m
Central Sierra Miwok: míw·y-
Chechen: стаг (stag), адам (adam)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 人類 / 人类 (zh) (rénlèi), 人 (zh) (rén)
Chuvash: ҫын (śyn), этем (et̬em)
Crimean Tatar: adam, insan
Czech: člověk (cs) m, lidé (cs) pl (plural), lidská bytost f
Dargwa: адам (adam), инсан (insan)
Dhivehi: އިންސާނުން (in̊sānun̊)
Eastern Mari: айдеме (ajdeme), еҥ (jeŋ)
Egyptian: (rmṯ)
Esperanto: homo (eo)
Finnish: ihminen (fi)
French: être humain (fr) m, humain (fr) m, humaine (fr) f, homme (fr)
Middle French: estre humain m
Gagauz: insan, adam, kişi
Galician: ser humano (gl) m
Georgian: ადამიანი (ka) (adamiani), კაცი (ka) (ḳaci)
German: menschliches Wesen n, Mensch (de) m
Greenlandic: inuk
Gujarati: મનુષ્ય (gu) (manuṣya), પુરુષ (gu) (puruṣ), માનવ m (mānav)
Hawaiian: kanaka
Hebrew: בֶּן אָדָם (he) m (ben 'ádam, literally “son of Adam”), אָדָם (he) m ('ádam)
Hindi: मनुष्य (hi) m (manuṣya), इंसान m (insān), आदमी (hi) m (ādmī), मानव (hi) m (mānav)
Hittite: 𒀭𒌅𒉿𒀪𒄩𒀸 c
Hungarian: ember (hu)
Indonesian: manusia (id), orang (id)
Ingush: саг (sag)
Interlingua: humano (ia), homine (ia), persona, esser human
Inuktitut: inuk (iu) (inuk)
Irish: duine (ga) m, neach daonna m
Japanese: 人間 (ja) (にんげん, ningen), 人類 (ja) (じんるい, jinrui), 人 (ja) (ひと, hito)
Kalmyk: күн (kün)
Kannada: ಮಾನವ (kn) (mānava)
Karachay-Balkar: адам (adam), киши (kişi)
Karakalpak: adam (kaa), kisi
Karelian: ihmine, mies
Kashubian: człowiek m
Kazakh: адам (kk) (adam), кісі (kısı)
Khiamniungan Naga: khèunyòh
Khmer: ជគត (km) (ceaʔkʊət), មនុស្ស (km) (mɔnuh), ជន (km) (cɔɔn)
Kikuyu: mũndũ class 1
Komi-Permyak: морт (mort)
Konkani: मनिषु (maniṣu)
Korean: 사람 (ko) (saram), 인류(人類) (ko) (illyu)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ئادەمیزاد (ademîzad)
Northern Kurdish: mirov (ku), meriv (ku)
Kyrgyz: киши (ky) (kişi), адам (ky) (adam)
Ladino: אומברי (ombre)
Lak: инсан (insan), адимана (adimana)
Lao: ມະນຸດ (lo) (ma nut), ຄົນ (lo) (khon), ບຸຣຸດ (bu rut)
Latvian: cilvēks (lv) m
Lezgi: инсан (insan), кас (kas)
Lithuanian: žmogus (lt) m
Lutshootseed: ʔaciɬtalbixʷ
Macedonian: чо́век (mk) m (čóvek), лу́ѓе pl (lúǵe) (plural)
Malay: manusia (ms), orang (ms)
Malayalam: മനുഷ്യൻ (ml) (manuṣyaṉ)
Maltese: bniedem m (literally “son of Adam”)
Manchu: ᠨᡳᠶᠠᠯᠮᠠ (niyalma)
Maore Comorian: mwanadamu class 1/2
Maori: tangata (mi)
Marathi: माणूस (māṇūs)
Moksha: ломань (lomań)
Mongolian: хүн (mn) (xün)
Navajo: bílaʼashdlaʼii
Occitan: òme (oc) m
Old Church Slavonic: чловѣкъ m (člověkŭ)
Ossetian: адӕймаг (adæjmag)
Pashto: انسان (ps) (insān)
Persian: آدمی (fa) (âdami), انسان (fa) (ensân), خاکزاد (fa) (xâkzâd)
Plautdietsch: Mensch (nds) m
Polish: człowiek (pl) m, ludzie (pl) pl (plural), istota ludzka f
Portuguese: ser humano (pt) m, homem (pt) m
Punjabi: ਇਨਸਾਨ (pa) (inasān), ਮਨੁੱਖ m (manukkha)
Romani: manuś m
Russian: челове́к (ru) m (čelovék), лю́ди (ru) pl (ljúdi) (plural)
Sanskrit: मनुष्य (sa) (manuṣya), मानव (sa) (mānava), जन (sa) m (jana)
Scottish Gaelic: duine
Serbo-Croatian: čeljade (sh) n, čeljad (sh) n pl
Cyrillic: чо̏век m, чо̏вјек m, љу̑ди pl (plural)
Roman: čȍvek (sh) m, čȍvjek (sh) m, ljȗdi (sh) pl (plural)
Shona: murume
Shor: кижи (kiji)
Sicilian: omu (scn) m, uòmunu m
Silesian: čowjek m
Sindhi: اِنسانُ (sd) (insānu)
Sinhalese: තැනැත්‍තා (tænættā), මිනිහා (minihā), මිනිසා (si) (minisā), පුරුෂයා (si) (puruṣayā)
Slovak: človek (sk) m, ľudia (sk) pl (plural), ľudská bytosť f
Slovene: člôvek (sl) m, ljudjé pl (plural)
Somali: dad (so), aadame
Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: čłowjek m
Sotho: motho (st)
Southern Altai: кижи (kiži)
Spanish: ser humano (es) m
Swahili: mwanadamu (sw), binadamu (sw)
Tagalog: tao (tl)
Tajik: одам (tg) (odam), инсон (tg) (inson)
Tamil: மனிதன் (ta) (maṉitaṉ)
Taos: tʼóyna
Tatar: кеше (tt) (keşe), инсан (tt) (insan), адәм (tt) (adäm)
Telugu: మనిషి (te) (maniṣi), మగవాడు (te) (magavāḍu)
Thai: คน (th) (kon), มนุษย์ (th) (má-nút)
Tibetan: མི། (mi)
Tocharian B: śaumo
Turkish: insan (tr), insanoğlu (tr), âdemoğlu (tr) (literally “son of Adam”), kişi (tr)
Turkmen: ynsan, ynsaan, adam (tk), kişi
Tuvan: кижи (kiji)
Tzotzil: krixchano
Udmurt: адями (aďami), мурт (murt)
Ukrainian: люди́на (uk) f (ljudýna), лю́ди (uk) pl (ljúdy) (plural), чолові́к (uk) m (čolovík) (now usually means "man", "male human")
Urdu: انسان (ur) m (insān), آدمی (ur) m (ādmī), منشیه (manuṣya)
Uyghur: ئىنسان (insan), ئادەم (ug) (adem)
Uzbek: odam (uz), inson (uz), kishi (uz)
Vietnamese: con người (vi), người (vi)
Welsh: dyn (cy) m
Wolof: nit (wo)
Yakut: киһи (kihi)
Yoruba: ènìyàn
Zulu: umuntu (zu) class 1/2 :

### See also

* ape
* chimpanzee

### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “human (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary: “"a human being," 1530s, from human (adj.).”