Basic Details
Word: Humanity
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: All the people in the world taken together; also kindness and care shown towards others.
Synonyms: humankind, mankind, kindness, compassion
Antonyms: cruelty, inhumanity
How to Spell Humanity
Syllables: hu - man - i - ty
Tricky part: The whole word human stays, then ity is added. Students change the vowel and write humanety or humanaty.
Watch out for: humanety, humanaty, humannity
Memory tip: Keep human just as it is and add ity, the same ending you hear in community and electricity.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Helping the injured stranger was an act of simple humanity.
Example 2: Climate change is a problem that affects all of humanity.
Example 3: The doctors treated every patient with humanity, whatever their background.
Fun Fact
The school subjects called the humanities, such as history, languages and philosophy, take their name from the same Latin word, humanitas, which meant human nature and learning.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word humanity as used in the sentence:
The nurse showed great humanity in caring for the wounded soldiers of both armies.
a) compassion
b) mercy
c) kindness
d) cruelty
Show answer
d) cruelty. Kindness, compassion and mercy are all part of humanity; cruelty is the opposite.
Word Makeup
Only one of these words can take the suffix ity to make a noun. Choose it:
ity
a) sad
b) brave
c) human
d) kind
Show answer
c) human. Human + ity gives humanity; the others make kindness, sadness and bravery.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
humannity
a) n
b) i
c) a
d) m
Show answer
a) n. Human has a single n, and adding ity does not double it.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In 'the whole of humanity', humanity means ____.
a) the study of the human body
b) all the people in the world
c) the history of one nation
d) all the animals on earth
Show answer
b) all the people in the world
2. Which word means kind and gentle towards people and animals?
a) humane
b) humanly
c) humanoid
d) human
Show answer
a) humane
