Kilo Lingo

(rén lèi) - humanity, human beings, mankind in Mandarin

rénlèi

Traditional: 人類

Line drawing of 人类
Coloured illustration of 人类
HSK 5
#584 of 5,000 Core 1000

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

Stroke order for 人

Stroke order for 类

Examples

Humanity needs to protect the Earth.

This is the greatest discovery in human history.

The history of mankind is very long.

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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Mandarin · Free printables

人类: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "人类" (humanity, human beings, mankind): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 12.