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person

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Personand-person

English

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EnglishWikipedia has articles on:
WikipediaWikipedia

Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishpersoun,personne et al., fromAnglo-Normanparsone,persoun et al. (Old Frenchpersone(“human being”),Frenchpersonne), and its sourceLatinpersōna(“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword fromEtruscan𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖(φersu,“mask”). In this sense, displaced nativeman, which came to mean primarily "adult male" in Middle English; seeOld Englishmann.Doublet ofparson andpersona.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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person (pluralpeopleorpersons)

  1. Anindividual who has been grantedpersonhood; usually ahuman being.[from 13th c.]
    • 1784, William Jones,The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c.,PREFACE
      THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with fromPerſons of the firſt diſtinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ſeveral new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and diſtinguiſh it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
    • 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC,page85:
      “A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a richperson has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. […]”
    Eachperson is unique, both mentally and physically.
    1. A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.
    2. (Christianity) Any one of the threehypostases of the HolyTrinity: theFather,Son, orHoly Spirit.
    3. Anysapient orsociallyintelligent being.
    4. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone wholikes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).[from 20th c.]
      Jack's always been a dogperson, but I prefer cats.
    5. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) A human of unspecifiedgender (in terms usually constructed withman orwoman).
    6. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) A worker in a specified function or specialty.
      I was able to speak to a technical supportperson and get the problem solved.
  2. The physicalbody of a being seen as distinct from themind,character, etc.[from 14th c.]
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym;Robert Burton],The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps,→OCLC, partition 3, section 1, member 2, subsection 3,page347:
      […]when the young Ladies laughed at her for it, ſhe replied that it was not hisperſon that ſhe did embrace and reverence, but the divine beauty of his Soule.
    • 1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter XVI, inWhat Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co.,→OCLC,page188:
      The Captain, inclining his militaryperson, sat sideways to be closer and kinder […].
    • 1978,Lawrence Durrell,Livia, Faber & Faber 1992(Avignon Quintet), page 418:
      At first blush it seemed that what was striking about him rested on the fact that his dress was exotic, hisperson foreign.
    • 2004,The New York Times:
      Meanwhile, the dazed Sullivan, dressed like a bum with no identification on hisperson, is arrested and put to work on a brutal Southern chain gang.
  3. (law) Any individual or formal organization withstanding before the courts.[from 14th c.]
    At common law a corporation or a trust is legally aperson.
  4. (law, euphemistic) The humangenitalia; specifically, thepenis.
    • 1824,Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4:
      [E]very Person wilfully, openly, lewdly, and obscenely exposing hisPerson in any Street, Road, or public Highway, or in the View thereof, or in any Place of public Resort, with Intent to insult any Female ... and being subsequently convicted of the Offence for which he or she shall have been so apprehended, shall be deemed a Rogue and Vagabond, within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act ...
  5. (grammar) Alinguistic category used todistinguish between thespeaker of anutterance and those to whom or about whom they arespeaking. Seegrammatical person.[from 14th c.]
  6. (biology) Ashoot orbud of aplant; apolyp orzooid of the compoundHydrozoa,Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.[from 19th c.]
    • 1884,Patrick Geddes, “Morphology”, inEncyclopædia Britannica, volume16:
      True corms, composed of united personae[…] usually arise by gemmation,[…] yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinctpersons.
  7. Asoulmate; someone, especially a romantic partner, with whom one is exceptionally compatible and connected.
    • 2022 January 25, Emily Forbes,The Perfect Mother for His Son, Harlequin,→ISBN:
      'I still miss her. Every day,' she said. 'She was myperson.[…] [And when she died,] I'd lost myperson. I was eight years old and I'd lost myperson. Willow and I even had our own language, as lots of twins do, but I stopped talking after she died.'
    • 2022 August 23, Chris Brinkley,My Story of Us: Thomas, Smartypants Romance,→ISBN:
      Standing in the rain, she looked at me and said, "I have lost myperson. Cal was myperson. What am I going to do? I lost myperson." The words didn't make sense to me.[…] She lost her person? What does that even mean? Cal was more than a person. He was this great man and legendary basketball coach. I get if you have lost your dog or cat [...] ButI lost my person?[…] I finally understood [...] Because I realized thatyou aremy person. It means that in a world of eight billion people, if I lost you, there would still be seven billion, nine-hundred and ninety-nine million, nine-hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-nine people [...] But none of those people matter. None of them are you.

Usage notes

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  • In senses 1.1, 1.3, and 1.4, the plural is most commonlypeople. In senses 1.2, 2, 3, and 5,persons is the only plural.
  • Traditionally a distinction was often made in formal language wherebypeople was used of human beings in general and of larger, more anonymous groups, whilepersons described a finite, known number of individuals. To the degree that speakers still use the pluralpersons, it is indeed often restricted to this latter context. However, Garner considers the distinction pedantic and most style guides (including e.g. the Associated Press and New York Times) now recommendpeople.Persons is still generally used in technical and legal contexts.
  • Referring to an individual as a “person” (rather than a gentleman, lady, etc.) was formerly perceived as a slight:
1836,King William IV, quoted in Clare Jerrold,The Early Court of Queen Victoria (New York: Putnam, 1912), at p. 97:
I trust in God that my life may be spared for nine months longer, after which period, in the event of my death, no Regency would take place. I should then have the satisfaction of leaving the Royal authority to the personal exercise of that young lady [the future Queen Victoria], the heiress presumptive to the Crown, and not in the hands of aperson now near me [Victoria's mother], who is surrounded by evil advisers and who is herself incompetent to act with propriety in the station in which she would be placed. I have no hesitation in saying that I have been insulted, grossly insulted by thatperson, but I am determined to endure no longer a course of behaviour so disrespectful to me.

Synonyms

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Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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individual—see alsoindividual
specifically a human being—see alsohuman,‎human being,‎man
character or part, as in a play
Christianity: any one of the three hypostases of the God
science fiction: sentient or socially intelligent being
someone who likes or has an affinity for a specified thing
the physical body seen as distinct from the mind
any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts
law: human genitalia
grammar: linguistic category
biology: shoot or bud of a plant; individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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person (third-person singular simple presentpersons,present participlepersoningorpersonning,simple past and past participlepersonedorpersonned)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) Torepresent as a person; topersonify; toimpersonate.
  2. (transitive, gender-neutral) Toman, to supply with staff or crew.
    • 1981,John Nichols, “Sunday”, inThe Nirvana Blues, New York, N.Y.:Ballantine Books, published May1983,page89:
      “Okay. Soon as Natalie heard, and while she was flailing around trying to turn up a Valium, she decided she had better call Scott Harrison and ask his opinion on what sort of advice, re legal moves, she ought to call back to Iréné, or Rama, or Wilkerson, or whoever’spersonning the fort back there.” / “Whoever’swhatening the fort?” / “Please. […]”
    • 1996 fall/winter, Sharon Dezurick, “Glen Park Community Festival a Success”, in Kristin Nash, editor,Glen Park News, San Francisco, Calif.: Glen Park Association,→OCLC, columns1–2:
      Thank you to the many who helped the festival succeed (and apologies to anyone omitted):[…] Kevin and Mary Jannsen, for tireless work including the initial survey, soliciting raffle donations, selling tickets,personning the raffle booth during the festival, etc.
    • 2006 March 22–28, L.E.[Lady Exister] Leone[pseudonym; Dani Leone], “Ah, Sprrr-ing!”, in Tim Redmond, editor,San Francisco Bay Guardian, volume40, number25, San Francisco, Calif.,→ISSN,page61, column 1:
      And I sat at the counter and watched the cooker catpersonning the griddle with one hand and the grill with the other.
    • 2007, Brian R. Brenner,Don't Throw This Away!: The Civil Engineering Life, page40:
      We had hit the iceberg, and it was time toperson the lifeboats.
    • 2008,Jess Lourey, chapter 21, inAugust Moon: A Murder-By-Month Mystery, Woodbury, Minn.: Midnight Ink,Llewellyn Publications,→ISBN,page207:
      I was just mulling over the merits of working the fryer at McDonald’s versuspersonning the complaints desk at Wal-Mart when I took a right onto the dirt road leading to New Millennium Bible Camp.
    • 2008, William Guy,Something Sensational, page337:
      We went so far as to stop in a hotel on the way out of Speyer — to ask for directions — but the teenaged girlpersoning the desk there seemed to be such an idiot[…]
    • 2018 September, Paul Bowers, “The Wrasse and the Flatfish”, inThe Panda Chronicles: A Mythology, 2nd edition,[Morrisiville, N.C.]: [Lulu.com],→ISBN,page74:
      In fact, so inebriated were they that they could barely move, and, neither nest nor wheel beingpersonned, the ship was as usual careening wildly across the main.

References

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  1. ^Bingham, Caleb (1808), “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, inThe Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book […] ‎[1], 12th edition,Boston: Manning & Loring,→OCLC,page76.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Breton

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Etymology

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FromOld Frenchpersone(“rector of a parish”), fromLatinpersōna.

Noun

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person m (pluralpersoned)

  1. vicar

Mutation

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Mutation ofperson
unmutatedsoftaspiratehard
singularpersonbersonfersonunchanged
pluralpersonedbersonedfersonedunchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Breton.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Danish

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Etymology

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FromLatinpersona.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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person c (singular definitepersonen,plural indefinitepersoner)

  1. person
  2. character
  3. figure
  4. people

Inflection

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Declension ofperson
common
gender		singularplural
indefinitedefiniteindefinitedefinite
nominativepersonpersonenpersonerpersonerne
genitivepersonspersonenspersonerspersonernes

Derived terms

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See also

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References

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Esperanto

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Noun

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person

  1. accusative singular ofperso

Finnish

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Adjective

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person

  1. genitivesingular ofperso

Indonesian

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Etymology

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FromDutchpersoon, fromMiddle Dutchpersone, ultimately fromLatinpersōna.Doublet ofpersona.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pêrson

  1. (formal, rare)person,individual
    Synonyms:perseorangan,pribadi

Related terms

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Further reading

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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FromLatinpersona.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /pær.suːn/,[pæ.ˈʂuːn] (Standard Eastern Norwegian)
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

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person m (definite singularpersonen,indefinite pluralpersoner,definite pluralpersonene)

  1. aperson

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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FromLatinpersona.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /pær.suːn/,[pæ.ˈʂuːn]

Noun

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person m (definite singularpersonen,indefinite pluralpersonar,definite pluralpersonane)

  1. aperson

Derived terms

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References

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Scots

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Noun

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person (pluralpeople)

  1. (law) An individual with rights and responsibilities under the law.
  2. (law) An individual or formal organisation with standing before the courts.
  3. In fiction, anysentient orsociallyintelligent being.

Swedish

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SwedishWikipedia has an article on:
Wikipediasv

Etymology

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FromLatinpersona.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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person c

  1. aperson, (in the plural)people
    Synonym:(in the plural, colloquial)pers
    Tolvpersoner deltog i mötet
    Twelvepeople attended the meeting
    Jag har inget emot dig somperson
    I have nothing against you as aperson
  2. (theology)person(any of the threehypostases of the Holy Trinity)
    Synonym:hypostas
    • 2010,Lars Cavallin, transl.,Katolska kyrkans katekes‎[2], Catholica, archived fromthe original on20 November 2023,§252:
      Kyrkan använder [...] begreppet "person" eller "hypostas" för att beteckna Fadern, Sonen och den helige Ande.
      The Church uses the term "person" or "hypostasis" to designate the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
    • 2018,Hans Helander, “Johannes Magnus i sin europeiska samtid”, in Johannes Magnus, Kurt Johannesson, transl.,Goternas och svearnas historia‎[3], Michaelisgillet & Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, accessed at Litteraturbanken.se, archived fromthe original on22 May 2025, pageII.62:
      Goterna [...] omfatta[de] en förvrängd uppfattning ompersonerna i Treenigheten och resultatet blev, enligt Johannes Magnus, att "oräkneliga själar gick miste om sin frälsning och sin salighet".
      The Goths embraced a distorted view ofthe persons of the Trinity and the result, according to Johannes Magnus, was that "countless souls missed out on their salvation and their bliss".
  3. (grammar)person

Usage notes

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Not formal likepersons in the plural. Matchespeople in tone.

Declension

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Declension ofperson
nominativegenitive
singularindefinitepersonpersons
definitepersonenpersonens
pluralindefinitepersonerpersoners
definitepersonernapersonernas

Derived terms

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Related terms

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See also

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References

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Anagrams

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Welsh

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Etymology

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FromMiddle Welshperson, ultimately fromLatinpersōna(“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), probably viaMiddle Englishpersoun andOld Frenchpersone(“human being”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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person m (pluralpersonau)

  1. person
    Synonym:unigolyn
  2. (grammar)person
    yn y trydyddperson ―in the thirdperson

Derived terms

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Noun

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person m (pluralpersoniaid)

  1. parson
  2. clergyman
    Synonyms:clerigwr,offeiriad

Mutation

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Mutated forms ofperson
radicalsoftnasalaspirate
personbersonmhersonpherson

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

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  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “person”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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