Mankind

Pronunciation

Origin

From Middle English mankinde, mankende, mankunde, mankuinde, alteration (due to kinde, kunde ("kind, nature, sort")) of earlier mankin, mankun, mancun ("mankind"), from Old English mancynn; equivalent to man + kin, and/or man + -kind. Cognate with Scots mankind, Middle High German mankünne, Danish mandkøn, Swedish mankön, Icelandic mannkyn ("mankind"). See also mankin.

Full definition of mankind

Noun

1. The human race in its entirety.
• 2006, Edwin Black, Internal Combustion Chapter 2, More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.
2. Men collectively, as opposed to all women.
• 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, “… it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
3. (obsolete) Human feelings; humanity.

Synonyms

Antonyms

• (all men) womankind