(rén lèi) - humanity, human beings, mankind in Mandarin
rénlèiTraditional: 人類
Translation
humanity, human beings, mankind
Word origin
人类 (rén lèi) joins 人 (rén), 'person', with 类 (lèi), 'kind' or 'category'. Together they mean 'humanity', 'human beings' or 'mankind' as a category.
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 人 (rén, person) + 类 (lèi, kind/category)
Stroke order
人
类
Examples
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Humanity needs to protect the Earth.
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This is the greatest discovery in human history.
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The history of mankind is very long.
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Technology has changed human life.
人类 (rén lèi) means humanity or human beings as a species. 人 means person and 类 means category or kind, so the compound means the human kind. It is used in scientific, philosophical, and rhetorical contexts to refer to all of humankind (人类文明, human civilisation; 人类进化, human evolution). It differs from 人们 (rén men, people - referring to a group of people in context) and 人民 (rén mín, the people - with political overtones).
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Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 12.