personhood

Etymology

person + -hood

noun

  1. The state or period of being a person.
    [Animals] are conscious; they are subjectively aware; they have interests; they can suffer. No characteristic other than sentience is required for personhood. 2008, Gary L. Francione, Animals as Persons
    These examples reveal that the shared personhood of hunters and prey was mutually comprehensible, such that hunters could see the animalness of themselves and the humanness of prey, and prey could see the humanness of themselves […] 2014, Christopher Watts, Relational Archaeologies: Humans, Animals, Things, page 101
  2. The status of being considered as a person.
    A majority of the present world's peoples delay the conferral of personhood (to children).

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