être humain

\ɛ.tʁ‿y.mɛ̃\

/\ɛ.tʁ‿y.mɛ̃\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“être humain” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Membre du genre humain.

Key facts for être humain
PropertyValue
Headwordêtre humain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛ.tʁ‿y.mɛ̃\
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “être humain” sits in French frequency

être humain falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

être humain is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɛ.tʁ‿y.mɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Membre du genre humain.".

être humain doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is être humain, spelled Ê-T-R-E- -H-U-M-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Membre du genre humain.

Synonyms

hommeHommepersonneHomo sapiensHomo sapiens sapienshumain

This word in other languages

human being(English)ser humano(Español)Mensch(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "être humain"?
"être humain" is spelled Ê-T-R-E- -H-U-M-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ.tʁ‿y.mɛ̃\.
What does "être humain" mean?
As a noun, "être humain" means: Membre du genre humain.
How do you pronounce "être humain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "être humain" is \ɛ.tʁ‿y.mɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "être humain" come from?
"être humain" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “être humain”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is Ê-T-R-E- -H-U-M-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ɛ.tʁ‿y.mɛ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list