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BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-human

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RECORD.

One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.

CLAIM-LEVEL USAGE

11 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.

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historical dictionarymw-human

Human — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use

AUTHOR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors
YEAR
2026
PUBLISHER
Merriam-Webster
DOI
Not recorded
SOURCE TYPE
historical dictionary
EXTERNAL RECORD
OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
4CANONICAL EDGES
1WITNESSES
0COMPARISONS
1CONTEXT LINKS
1RANKED REVEALS
1DISPUTES
3JOURNEY STAGES
2WORD DOSSIERS
01

CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS

RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

1
02

SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT

DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

1
03

CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS

EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

4
EDGE 826supportsestablished

human → humain

Present-Day English → Middle English · continuation

SOUND
Modern human continues Middle English humain with modern spelling.
MEANING
Human reference remains while noun and adjective uses develop.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology and First Known Use

Publishes Middle English humain and the fifteenth-century adjective horizon.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 827supportsestablished

humain → humain

Middle English → Anglo-French · borrowing

SOUND
Middle English humain was borrowed through Anglo-French humain.
MEANING
The human adjective crosses through French into English.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors
Etymology: Middle English humain from Anglo-French

Publishes the immediate borrowing channel.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 828supportsestablished

humain → hūmānus

Anglo-French → Latin · inheritance

SOUND
Anglo-French humain continues Latin hūmānus through Romance.
MEANING
The human adjective continues across the borrowing channel.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology: Anglo-French from Latin humanus

Publishes the Romance-to-Latin step.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 829supportsestablished

hūmānus → homō

Latin → Latin · derivation

SOUND
Latin hūmānus belongs to the Latin homō, human-being, family.
MEANING
A human adjective is formed from the human noun family.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
Etymology: humanus, akin to Latin homo

Publishes the Latin family relationship.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
04

LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS

WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE

1
humanSOURCE-REPORTED

human

Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for human

OPEN WITNESS 179 ↗
05

COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE

COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES

0
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
06

GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS

JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

3
07

NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS

HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE

1
semantic overlap distinct ancestrysupports

TWO WORDS FOR US, TWO DIFFERENT ARCHAEOLOGIES

Human and person can identify the same individual today, but their reviewed ancestries do not merge: human travels through Latin hūmānus and homō toward an earth root, while person travels through Latin persōna toward a disputed mask and role history.

human↔person
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors · established
08

WORD-FAMILY REUSE

DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE

2
human11 CLAIM LINKS↗person1 CLAIM LINKS↗

4 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.