human (English)

Where does "human" come from?

The word 'human' descends from the Proto-Indo-European *mon- ('man'), eventually developing into the Latin adjective hūmānus. It passed through Old and Middle French before entering Middle English as 'humayne'. By the early 18th century, the spelling stabilized into the 'human' we use today to describe the nature and identity of our species.

Full etymology tree

• human (English), 'Of or belonging to the species Homo sapiens or its closest relatives.'
  • inherited humaigne (Middle English), 'alternative form of humayne'
    • inherited humain (Middle French), 'human; human being'
      • inherited humain (Old French)
        • inherited hūmānus (Latin), 'human (of man, people)'
          • derived hominem (Latin), 'accusative singular of homō'
          • derived *mon- (Proto-Indo-European), 'man, human being'

Direct ancestors

• humaigne (Middle English)
• humain (Middle French)
• humanus (Latin)

Updated July 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris