subhuman

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *upó
Proto-Italic *supo
Latin sub
Latin sub-der.
English sub-
Latin hūmānuslbor.
Old French umain
Middle French humainbor.
Middle English humayne
English human
English subhuman

    From sub- + human.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [sʌbˈhjuːmən]
    • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):(file)

    Adjective

    subhuman (comparative more subhuman, superlative most subhuman)

    1. Less than human; lacking the characteristics or value of a human.
      1. (offensive) As asserted of humans.
        Synonym: infrahuman
        Antonyms: superhuman, suprahuman, ultrahuman
        Coordinate terms: transhuman, (Nazism) Untermensch
        A secret to Nazi power was that anyone from the ingroup could be turned upon and labeled as subhuman scum when some alleged Jewish ancestry was suddenly "discovered".
      2. As asserted of animals, robots, etc.
        Synonym: infrahuman
        We say dolphin intelligence is subhuman; I suspect dolphins say our intelligence is subdolphin.
        In the belief system of his day, chimpanzees were described as subhuman and asserted to be incapable of feeling pain.
        • 2018, Alan Bundy, "Smart Machines are not a Threat to Humanity", quoted by Roman V. Yampolskiy, Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security:
      • The current focus on the very remote threat of super-human intelligence is obscuring this very real threat from subhuman intelligence. But could such dumb machines be sufficiently dangerous to pose a threat to humanity? Yes, if, for instance, we were stupid enough to allow a dumb machine the autonomy to unleash weapons of mass destruction.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Noun

    subhuman (plural subhumans)

    1. (sometimes offensive) Any sentient creature that is subhuman.
      Synonym: untermensch
      Antonyms: superhuman, übermensch
      Hypernym: humanoid
      Near-synonym: nonperson
    2. (incel slang) A man who ranks at the bottom percentile or decile of the PSL scale or in SMV; a truecel.

    Translations

    See also

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