What is the word for "animalkind"?
Collectively, we call humans “humankind” or “mankind”. Is there a collective word (just one word, not a phrase) that can be used for animals?
I’m writing an essay and I want to keep my sentences parallel. I used humankind, but I need a word for “animalkind”.
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14 Answers
“Fauna,” as in “Flora and Fauna.”
Humans are a subset of animals, so “animalkind”, “fauna” does include humans.
If you want to denote the group of animals excluding humans, use “non-human animals”.
I was at “the animal kingdom” too.
There’s also “all creatures great and small.”
@ragingloli I have never thought to include humans in with fauna. I do automatically include humans as animals.
I don’t see what’s wrong with “animalkind.” Coin a term if that is what will work best—and it seems that it will work best given the desire to keep your sentences parallel. One thing to consider, however, is whether it will be clear to your audience what you are counting as an animal. For example: do you mean to be including insects?
Animalkind/animal-kind isn’t off the mark. I think it is a term humans have created more recently though. I have used Animal Kingdom and Animalia before.
“Animalkind” is a bit cumbersome, but it works to convey the idea of non-human creatures. You would not be the first person to assemble an appropriate word.
I don’t think that you can really have them be parallel, though. “Mankind” refers to the subset of creatures that are human, “kind” in this case being a relative of “kin,” or family – creatures that are related and so share major features. The “animalkind” concept is in fact a grouping of multiple different kinds. So far as accuracy in language goes, it would be better to simply say “non-human,” or rewrite the sentence so as not to say “humankind.”
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