humane
/hjuːˈmeɪn//hjuˈmeɪn/
humane adjective: having or showing concern for the pain or suffering of another; compassionate. Also the obsolete spelling of human.
Adjective
humane (comparative humaner or more humane, superlative humanest or most humane)
- 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.
- Pertaining to branches of learning concerned with human affairs or the humanities, especially classical literature or rhetoric.
- 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.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...
Also used as
humane is also the obsolete spelling of human.
humane meaning in Hindi, Pashto, Tagalog and Arabic
humane in Hindi
- with regard for the health and well-being of another
- मानवोचित mānvocit
humane in Pashto
- with regard for the health and well-being of another
- انساني ensāni
humane in Tagalog
- with regard for the health and well-being of another
- makatao
humane in Arabic
- with regard for the health and well-being of another
- إِنْسَانِيّ ʔinsāniyy
More languagesFewer languages
- humane in Persian
- انسانی ensâni
Examples of humane in a sentence
- I care lots about the humane treatment of animals.
- I've been giving it a lot of thought lately, and I've decided to stop buying eggs that fail to earn the "certified humane" label.
- The extra drop meant the victim's neck snapped, causing a more humane death.
Synonyms of humane
Antonyms
Forms of humane
| comparative | humaner |
|---|---|
| comparative | more humane |
| superlative | humanest |
| superlative | most humane |
Origin of humane
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.
Words formed from humane
Phrases with humane
Words that rhyme with humane
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
Questions about humane
- What does humane mean?
- Humane means having or showing concern for the pain or suffering of another; compassionate.
- What is humane in Hindi?
- Humane in Hindi is मानवोचित (mānvocit). See Humane meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is humane?
- Humane is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce humane?
- Humane is pronounced /hjuːˈmeɪn/ (UK).
Words near humane in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: humane (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-humane.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-humane.wav.
Cite this entry: “humane.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/humane. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.