Meaning of 人类
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- humanity
- human race
- mankind
How to use 人类
人类 is used for humans as a species, often in science, history, or big-picture talk about the world. It is more formal than just saying 人. Example: 人类需要保护地球。(Rénlèi xūyào bǎohù dìqiú.) Humans need to protect the Earth.
人 (rén) means person, and 类 (lèi) means kind or category. Put them together and you get the whole category of people: humanity.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes use 人类 to mean a group of people, like the people in a room. For that, use 人 or 大家 (dàjiā), because 人类 means all of humankind. Also keep the tone on 类 as fourth tone (lèi), not second.
人类 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
人 rén · person · 2 strokes
- 1
- 2
类 lèi · kind · 9 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
Related words
Words that share a character with 人类.
| 女人 | nǚrén | woman |
| 男人 | nánrén | a man; a male |
| 别人 | biérén | other people; others; other person |
| 家人 | jiārén | family member; (old) servant |
| 病人 | bìngrén | sick person; patient |
| 工人 | gōngrén | worker |
| 老人 | lǎorén | old man or woman; the elderly |
| 有人 | yǒu rén | someone; people |
| 人们 | rénmen | people |
| 大人 | dàren | adult; grownup |
| 客人 | kèrén | visitor; guest; customer |
| 好人 | hǎorén | good person; healthy person |
Questions about 人类
What does 人类 mean?
人类 (rénlèi) means "humanity; human race" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 人类?
人类 is made of 2 characters: 人 (2 strokes), 类 (9 strokes). That is 11 strokes in total.
Is 人类 an HSK word?
Yes. 人类 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 人类 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 人类 is written 人類.
What is the difference between 人类 and 人们?
人们 (rénmen) means people in general, as in everyday groups of people doing things. 人类 refers to the human species as a whole, often in contrast to animals or nature.
What other words use 类 like 人类?
类 marks a category, so you see it in words like 鸟类 (niǎolèi) birds as a class and 种类 (zhǒnglèi) type or kind. This pattern helps you guess meanings of new words ending in 类.