Menschlichem

Menschlichem is the inflected form of the German adjective menschlich, meaning human or humane. It is not a standalone lexical entry but a grammatical form that appears before a noun in the dative case. In practice you will encounter it in phrases without a definite article, such as mit menschlichem Maßstab or mit menschlichem Verhalten, where it describes how something is measured or acted in a human or humane way.

In general, the form reflects strong declension of adjectives in the dative singular before masculine or neuter nouns. For example: mit menschlichem Verhalten (with human behavior) or bei menschlichem Maßstab (with a human scale/standard). When a determiner is present, other inflected forms may occur, such as dem menschlichen Maßstab or im menschlichen Sinn, depending on case, gender, and article.

Etymology and related forms: menschlich is formed from the noun Mensch (human being) plus the common German suffix -lich, which turns nouns into adjectives meaning “related to” or “characteristic of.” The word has cognates in Dutch menselijk and the English word human, reflecting shared Germanic roots. The noun form das Menschliche can express the abstract concept of humanity or the human in general, and it may appear capitalized in German texts.

Usage notes: menschlichem is primarily found in descriptive, comparative, or evaluative contexts where a dative phrase modifies a noun. It is part of a broader set of inflected forms of menschlich that allow the adjective to agree with gender, number, and case of the noun it accompanies.