Originally used with singular verbs (e.g. "the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness" in the King James Version of 2 Samuel 17:29[1]), the plural aspect ofpeople is probably due to influence fromMiddle Englishlede,leed, a plural sinceOld English times; seelēode.
"What a charming amusement for youngpeople this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished society."
There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superiorpeople. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs,[…], and all these articles[…]made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.
“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards thatpeople do send to otherpeople that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer.[…]”
2013 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, inThe Economist[2], volume407, number8838, archived fromthe original on23 October 2018, page11:
But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power):people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.
The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about[…], or offering services that let you[…]"share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at underminingpeople's control of their own attention.
2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, inThe Economist[4], volume407, number8842, archived fromthe original on3 November 2018, pages72–3:
Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enablespeople to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
`So, oh Holly. Thispeople was an oldpeople before the Egyptians were.'
2023 September 26, Hafsa Khalil, “Electric blue tarantula species discovered in Thailand”, inCNN[5]:
The team auctioned off the right to name the new species to publicize the find and raise awareness and funds for the indigenous Lahupeople of northern Thailand, a group that Sippawat is part of.
Kennedy looked down at Flood's desk and thought about the possibilities. "Can you locate him?" "I already have mypeople checking on all three. So far I've only been able to confirm the whereabouts of the Jordanian officer."
The wordpeople today takes a plural verb in most senses.
Nowadays,persons as the plural ofperson is considered highly formal. Several major style guides recommendpeople rather thanpersons. For example, the Associated Press and the New York Times recommendpeople except in quotations and set phrases. Under the traditional distinction, whichGarner says is pedantic,[2]persons describes a finite, known number of individuals, rather than the collective termpeople.Persons remains in use in technical and legal contexts.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Scenes, long since forgotten, had beenpeopling his solitude with one still cherished image paramount over all; one young fair face, whose sweet eyes seemed to look upon him reproachfully:...
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Since 2000, named afterPeople, an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news, human-interest stories, and gossip. That word itself is derived fromOld Frenchpeuple, thus making it a reborrowing.Doublet ofpeuple andpueblo.
2004, Emmanuel Davidenkoff, Didier Hassoux, “Luc Ferry: une comédie du pouvoir, 2002-2004”, inLuc Ferry: A Comedy of Power, 2002-2004, Hachette,→ISBN:
Le novice en politique contre le mammouth « Éducation nationale ». Ça mérite la sympathie. Et puis c’est unpeople. Les gens aiment et détestent à la fois. Ils sont fascinés. Le bonheur sur papier glacé. Les vacances entre Saint-Trop’, la Martinique et Deauville.
The political novice against the mammoth "National Education". That merited sympathy. Then, too, he was acelebrity. People loved and hated at the same time. They were fascinated. Happiness on glossy paper. Vacations between Saint-Tropez, Martinique, and Deauville.
2008, Martine Delvaux, "L’égoïsme romantique de Frédéric Beigbeder" ("Frédéric Beigbeder'sL’égoïsme romantique(Romantic Egotism)"), in Alain-Philippe Durand (editor),Frédéric Beigbeder et ses doubles (Frédéric Beigbeder and His Doubles), Rodopi,→ISBN,page 95:
Oscar Dufresne est unpeople anti-people, un macho impuissant, un intellectuel qui ne dit rien d’intelligent, un faux sadique et un faux masochiste, un anti-autobiographe.
Oscar Dufresne is acelebrity who is anti-celebrity, a powerless macho man, an intellectual who says nothing intelligent, a fake sadist and a fake masochist, an anti-autobiographer.
(uncountable)showbusiness, popular media that feature stories on celebrities and famous people (as represented by magazines such asPeople, (UK)Hello!, (France)Paris Match)
