Word.ws English Dictionary

humanflesh

humanflesh noun: humans collectively.

Noun

humanflesh (uncountable)

  1. (rare) Humans collectively.
    • The ship slid softly along through the darkness of the harbor almost furtively as it were, as if she were carrying off a cargo of kidnapped humanflesh.1897, Edmondo de Amicis, translated by Jacob B. Brown, “The Embarkation of the Emigrants”, in On Blue Water, New York, N.Y.; London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 9
    • Horseflesh and humanflesh, / What’s the grand design? / Why does one pull the plough / And another one pull the lines? / What makes a man a man? / Why is a horse a horse?1981, Peter Anderson, Phil Savath, “[Horseplay] Meat on the Bone”, in Ginny Ratsoy, James Hoffman, editors, Playing the Pacific Province: An Anthology of British Columbia Plays, 1967-2000, Toronto...
  2. (rare) The flesh of a human.
    • I thought then how spirit is always perceived at a distance but flesh is not perceived at all, only touched. Puddingface waited my pleasure. Then suddenly, as if divinely sent to sate my perverse craving, a disgusting slab of humanflesh stepped straight into the room—a blighted, blasted, pasty...1972, Barry Brissman, Swing Low, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 40
    • “They won’ hurt m’lady,” Chester blurted out. / “Good God, Chester—” Jack drew tight as a strung bow. He’d finally struck a nerve in that great lump of humanflesh. “Look what they’ve done to her already![…]”1990 September, Betina Krahn, Caught in the Act, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 303

Examples of humanflesh in a sentence

  • Horseflesh and humanflesh alike need to be warmed up before strenuous activity.1984, Steven Adcock, “[Breathing and Form, Warm-up, and Freebody Exercises] Warm-up”, in Steve Adcock’s Partner Workout: A Two-Person...
  • Surely my markings are by this time as unmistakable to an observer of humanflesh as are horses’ shades of color, whorls of hair, configurations of bone, and daubs of white to experts in horseflesh.1986, Robert D. Pelton, “[Things as They Are] Distinguishing Marks”, in Circling the Sun: Meditations on Christ in Liturgy and Time...
  • Later, I would realize that horseflesh and humanflesh dance to the same ardent music, even though our human dance is constrained by rules that horses never know.1992, Scott Russell Sanders, “Wayland”, in Joseph Epstein, Robert Atwan, editors, The Best American Essays 1993, New York, N.Y.: Ticknor &...
  • Horseflesh, like humanflesh, was heir to the same agues and cramps that made it easier to run at some times than at others.1995 August, Tabor Evans [pseudonym], Longarm and the Kansas Killer (Longarm; 200), New York, N.Y.: Jove Books, →ISBN, page 120:

Origin of humanflesh

From human + flesh. Sense 1 after horseflesh.

Questions about humanflesh

What does humanflesh mean?
Humanflesh means humans collectively.
How do you use humanflesh in a sentence?
Horseflesh and humanflesh alike need to be warmed up before strenuous activity.
What part of speech is humanflesh?
Humanflesh is a noun.

Words near humanflesh in the dictionary

  1. humanest
  2. humanewash
  3. humanewashed
  4. humanewashes
  5. humanewashing
  6. humanflesh
  7. humanfree
  8. humanhood
  9. humaniac
  10. humaniacs
  11. humanicide

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: humanflesh (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)-Flame, not lame-human flesh.wav.

Cite this entry: “humanflesh.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/humanflesh. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.