Following are some of the Hebrew words to describe humanity in its various aspects:

 

Adam

    Adam is the term used in the first three chapter of Genesis for "man" (both male and female) as the pinnacle of God's creation, and a having been creatd in God's image and likeness.  The word is also the personal name of the first man, Adam.  Adam was this in both senses of our English words first human and first mamle.  The root word is believed to suggest rudiness, and is related to the word for "ground" ('adamah), from  which man was formed.  Genesis 1:27 is very important here: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them."  Let us make man.  The three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, consult about it and concur in it, because man, when he was made,was to be dedicated and devoted to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Into that great name we are, with good reason, baptized, for to that great name we owe our being.  Let him rule man  who said, Let us make man.

     Adam is in the image of God in the sense that he is a reasoning, moral being with emotions and a spiritual nature.  It is the moral and spiritual nature that is lacking in the rest of the creatures on earth.  Animals do not build churches.

 

     Ish and Ishshah ("man" and "woman")

     When husband and wife relationsips are in view, ish and ishshah are common forms (there are separate words for male and female in the sense of gender).  Though the two forms may not be from the same root the very least Adam makes a pun when he says: "She shall be called Woman [ishshah], because she was taken out of Man [ish]"  (Genesis 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man).  That Adam slept  while his wife was in making, that no room might be left to imagine that he had herein directed the Spirit of the Lord, or been his  counsellor.

   'Ish is also commonly used for any male individual

and can even simply mean "each" or "whoever."

   Both "adam and 'ish stress the value of humankind.  Since man is created in God's image, it is an attack on that image to destroy a fellow man or woman.

 

'Enosh

   'Enosh is the word for mankind that often stresses it mortalitiy and frailty.  Psalm 8:4, for example, reads, "What is man ['enosh], that you are mundful of him? and the son of man, that you visited him?"  The word is also more likely to appear in poetry, as in Psalm 8,  If 'enosh is derived from 'anash, "to be weak or sick,"  this would fit the common Hebrew usage.  Some scholars prefer to derive the word from a similar root not proven to exist in Hebrew but definitely found in the related Semitic tongues, Arabic and Ugaritic.  This root stresses sociability and companionship.  Humans certainly are social creatures.  If this origin is correct, the "frailty" motif would come more from the context and the Old Testament's stress on God's majesty and man's lowly position.

 

Geber and Gibbor

    Geber and gibbor both come from the root gabar, to "prevail," be strong or great."  Both of these words are the opposite of the common understanding of 'enosh.  If 'enosh is man in his frailty, these words stress man in his strength.

     Geber occurs sixty-six times and describes a man at tthe height of his masculine strength.  It is somewhat similar to the Hispanic term macho, which has become so popular in everyday English, as well.

     Gibbor is usually a military term for warriors and heroes, "mighty men of valour."  It is used for Nimrod, the "mighty hunetr before the LORD" (Genesis 10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said; Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the  LORD.);   Nimrod was a great hunter, with this he began, and for this became famous to a proverb.  Every great hunter is, in remembrance of him, called a Nimrod.  for the Philistine 'champion," Goliath (1 Samuel 17:51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith.  And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.)   To complete the execution, David drew Goliath's own sword, a two-handed weapon for David, and with it cut off his head. (2 Samuel 23:8 These be the names of the mighty men whom David had:  The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; and the same as Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eigth hundred, whom he slew at one time.).