Word.ws English Dictionary

hostis humani generis

Syllables: hos·tis hu·ma·ni ge·ne·ris/ˈhəʊstɪs ˈhjuːməni ˈd͡ʒɛnəɹɪs/

hostis humani generis noun: a person who has committed a criminal act so grave – originally maritime piracy and slave-trading, and now torture as well – that any nation may put on trial and, upon conviction, punish them.

Noun

hostis humani generis (plural hostes humani generis)

  1. (international law) A person who has committed a criminal act so grave – originally maritime piracy and slave-trading, and now torture as well – that any nation may put on trial and, upon conviction, punish them.
    • Hoſtis humani generis, is neither a Definition, nor ſo much as a Deſcription of a Pirate, but a rhetorical Invective to ſhew the Odiouſneſs of that Crime. […] So a Man who breaks the common Rules of Honeſty and Juſtice, which are eſſential to the well-being of Mankind, by robbing only one Nation...1694, [Matthew Tindal], “An Essay Concerning the Laws of Nations, and the Rights of Sovereigns. With an Account of what was Said at the Council Board by the Civilians upon the Question, whether Their...
    • All the definitions of piracy may be reduced to two short ones: 1. That of the Roman or civil law, which describes a pirate to be hostis humani generis; that is, the enemy of mankind: 2. That of the common law, which [describes] him as being a robber on the sea, […]1824, Nathan Dane, chapter CCX, in A General Abridgment and Digest of American Law, with Occasional Notes and Comments. … In Eight Volumes, volume VII, Boston, Mass.: Published by Cummings, Hilliard...

Forms of hostis humani generis

pluralhostes humani generis

Origin of hostis humani generis

Borrowed from Latin hostis hūmānī generis (“enemy of the human race”): hostis (“enemy of the state”) + hūmānī, genitive singular neuter of hūmānus (“of man”) + generis, genitive singular of genus (“race”).

Questions about hostis humani generis

What does hostis humani generis mean?
Hostis humani generis means a person who has committed a criminal act so grave – originally maritime piracy and slave-trading, and now torture as well – that any nation may put on trial and, upon conviction, punish them.
What part of speech is hostis humani generis?
Hostis humani generis is a noun.
How do you pronounce hostis humani generis?
Hostis humani generis is pronounced /ˈhəʊstɪs ˈhjuːməni ˈd͡ʒɛnəɹɪs/ (UK).
What is the plural of hostis humani generis?
The plural of hostis humani generis is hostes humani generis.

Words near hostis humani generis in the dictionary

  1. hostilized
  2. hostilizes
  3. hostilizing
  4. hosting
  5. hostings
  6. hostis humani generis
  7. hostle
  8. hostled
  9. hostler
  10. hostlers
  11. hostlership

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hostis humani generis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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