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humane

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

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.

Pronunciation

Adjective

humane (comparative humaner or more humane, superlative humanest or most humane)

  1. Having or showing concern for the pain or suffering of another; compassionate.
    It is no longer considered humane to perform vivisection on research animals.
    As methods of execution go, beheading is more humane than drawing and quartering.
    • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
      The unfortunate thing about Bando, said Arthur, is that it is no longer to be obtained in this unfortunate country. I understand that inferior products, such as Ostreine and Spanish Flies, may still be wheedled out of some of the humaner chemists, up and down the city, in the ten minutes or a quarter of an hour immediately following their midday meal.
  2. Pertaining to branches of learning concerned with human affairs or the humanities, especially classical literature or rhetoric.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 7:
      many divine precepts to counterpoise our hearts, special antidotes both in scriptures and humane authors, which who so will observe, shall purchase much ease and quietness unto himself.
  3. Obsolete spelling of human.
    • 1660, [Richard Allestree], “Sect[ion] V. Of the Second Advantage, Wealth.”, in The Gentlemans Calling, London: […] T[imothy] Garthwait […], →OCLC, page 83:
      [N]o attempt is made to call in God to their reſcue, as if he vvere an idle unconcern'd ſpectator of humane affairs, or ſo inconſiderable an ally, as not to be vvorth the care of engaging him on their ſide.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

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Danish

Adjective

humane

  1. definite singular of human
  2. plural of human

Esperanto

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /huˈmane/
  • Rhymes: -ane
  • Hyphenation: hu‧ma‧ne

Adverb

humane

  1. humanely

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

humane

  1. inflection of human:
    1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
    2. strong nominative/accusative plural
    3. weak nominative all-gender singular
    4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Latin

Etymology

From hūmānus (“humane, noble”).

Adverb

hūmānē (comparative hūmānius, superlative hūmānissimē)

  1. humanly, in a human manner.
  2. humanely, kindly, politely; in a humane manner.

Synonyms

References

  • “humane”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “humane”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “humane”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to bear a thing with resignation, composure: humane, modice, moderate, sapienter, constanter ferre aliquid
  • Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)
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Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

humane

  1. definite singular of human
  2. plural of human

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

humane

  1. definite singular of human
  2. plural of human

Portuguese

Verb

humane

  1. inflection of humanar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English humain, humayne, humaigne from Old French humain, umain, from Latin hūmānus, from Latin homō (“man”).

Adjective

humane (comparative mair humane, superlative maist humane)

  1. of humans; having the good qualities of mankind
  2. humanly, pertaining or natural to mankind

Further reading

“humane”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

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Spanish

Verb

humane

  1. inflection of humanar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Swedish

Adjective

humane

  1. definite natural masculine singular of human

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