Inhuman or inhumane?
inhuman is an adjective meaning “Of or pertaining to inhumanity and the indifferently cruel, sadistic or…”; inhumane is an adjective meaning “Alternative form of inhuman: lacking pity or compassion for misery and…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) inhuman is about as common as inhumane.
What is the difference between inhuman and inhumane?
| inhuman | inhumane | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | adjective |
| Meaning | Of or pertaining to inhumanity and the indifferently cruel, sadistic or barbaric behavior it brings Transcending or different than what is human | Alternative form of inhuman: lacking pity or compassion for misery and suffering; cruel, unkind |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ɪnˈhjuːmən/ | /ˌɪnhjuːˈmeɪn/ |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words | 1.4 times per million words |
Sources: inhuman and inhumane in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of inhuman and inhumane
inhuman
- 1
Of or pertaining to inhumanity and the indifferently cruel, sadistic or barbaric behavior it brings
- 2
Transcending or different than what is human
inhumane
- 1
Alternative form of inhuman: lacking pity or compassion for misery and suffering; cruel, unkind
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, inhuman or inhumane?
inhuman appears 1.9 times per million words; inhumane 1.4 times per million words.
inhuman 1.9 times per million wordsinhumane 1.4 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search inhuman vs inhumane?
“inhuman vs inhumane” is searched about 1,000 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“inhumane vs inhuman”, “inhuman or inhumane”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.