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humain

Etymology and origin of the French word humain

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1160, Eneas
Borrowed from
Latin humanus
Ultimate origin
Latin (humānus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin humanus
French humain

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /y.mɛ̃/[1]

Forms

humain (feminine humaine, masculine plural humains, feminine plural humaines)[1] Old French also umain.[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin humānus (“of man, human; civilized; kind”).[3][4][5][6] Rey, after Ernout and Meillet, notes that “humānus” corresponds exactly in sense to homō (“man, human being”) but is independent of it in form, like “publicus” beside “populus”; at an older level, where “homo” is linked to humus (“earth”), a formal link is more than likely.[4] The TLFi, the Grand Robert and the GLLF simply derive it from “homō”.[3][7][8]

Cognate with Catalan humà, Spanish humano and Italian umano.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Eneas (about 1160) it means “belonging to man”: Ce est enfer, ce ne est pas humains convers, “this is hell, not a human dwelling”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It soon meant “having the nature of man” (about 1165), as in être humain, and “made up of men”: humains lignages (about 1175), later l'humain genre and le genre humain (about 1360).[3][4][8] The sense “kind, benevolent”, taken again from Latin, is found about 1200, and of a woman it once meant “accessible”, opposed to inhumaine (1558).[3][4]

Les lettres humaines in Rabelais (1552) are profane literature, opposed to the Scriptures.[3][4] As a noun, les humains “mankind” is found in 1340 and l'humain “human nature” in d'Aubigné (before 1630).[3][4] The organ stop voix humaine dates from 1680, and respect humain from Corneille (1651).[4][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1160 – Eneas.[3]
  • c. 1175 – Humains lignages.[3]
  • c. 1200 – “Kind”, L'Escoufle.[3]
  • 1340 – Li humain “human beings”.[3]
  • 1552 – Les lettres humaines, Rabelais.[3]
  • 1578 – Surhumain, Ronsard.[5]
  • 1680 – Voix humaine, an organ stop.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. human: of or proper to man: la nature humaine, le corps humain, un être humain.[9][1]
  2. Made up of human beings: le genre humain, l'espèce humaine.[3][2]
  3. humane, kind, understanding: un chef très humain.[1][3]
  4. Natural to man, and so fallible: faiblesse humaine, défaillance humaine.[9]
  5. Concerning man as an object of study: sciences humaines.[4]

Noun

  1. A human being, les humains: mankind.[1][3]
  2. L'humain: what is human, human nature.[3][4]

Word family

  • humainement
  • inhumain
  • humaniser
  • surhumain

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 507b
  7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Humain.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/humain. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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