misanthropy
/mɪˈsænθrəpi/noun
Hatred, distrust, or dislike of humankind
From Greek μῖσος (hatred) + Greek ἄνθρωπος (human being).
Lineage
μῖσος
ἄνθρωπος
The story
Picture an Ancient Greek word-builder placing two stark labels side by side: μῖσος, “hatred,” and ἄνθρωπος, “human being.” The result, μισάνθρωπος, literally describes someone who hates people; its abstract noun, μισανθρωπία, eventually entered English as “misanthropy” in the 1650s. The second root is the same one hiding in anthropology, while the first appears in terms such as misogyny and misology—so misanthropy is not vague gloom but a neatly engineered “hatred-of-humans” compound. Later writers widened it from personal dislike to a theory that humanity itself is defective, although some forms are comic, quietist, or aimed at reform rather than violence. Remember the word as a Greek signpost: one half points to hatred, the other to the human crowd.
Modern usage
An intensely hostile or contemptuous attitude toward humanity, often expressed in internet slang.
- Heard in
- internet slang · online subcultures
Words from the same roots
ἄνθρωπος · Ancient Greek, ‘human being, person’
Derivedanthropology, anthropocentric, anthropomorphic, philanthropy, misanthrope, anthropoid
Sources
- Etymonlinemisanthropy, heat, thread, alexander, dearth
- Incels Wikimisanthropy
- Urban Dictionarymisanthropy
- Wikipediamisanthropy
- Wiktionarymisanthropy