people

English Online Dictionary. What means people‎? What does people mean?

English

Alternative forms

• peeps, peops (slang)
• peple (obsolete)
• pipple (pronunciation spelling)
• ppl, ppl.

Etymology

From Middle English puple, peple, peeple, from Anglo-Norman people, from Old French pueple, peuple, pople, from Latin populus (“a people, nation”), from Old Latin populus, from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos, from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”) of unknown origin. Doublet of pueblo. Gradually ousted native English lede and, partially, folk.

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), the plural aspect of people is probably due to influence from Middle English lede, leed, a plural since Old English times; see lēode.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːpəl/, /ˈpiːpl̩/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpipəl/, /ˈpipl̩/, [ˈpʰipɫ̩]
• Homophone: papal (some dialects)
• Hyphenation: peo‧ple
• Rhymes: -iːpəl

Noun

people (countable and uncountable, plural peoples)

2. plural of person: a body of persons considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons.

   Synonyms: (slang) peeps, (obsolete) lede, (obsolete) leod

   • c. 1607, plaque recording the Bristol Channel floods:

     XXII people was in this parrish drownd.
4. (countable, collective) Persons forming or belonging to a particular group, such as a nation, class, ethnic group, country, family, etc.

   Synonyms: collective, community, congregation, folk

   Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) nation
6. A group of persons regarded as being servants, followers, companions or subjects of a ruler or leader.

   Synonyms: fans, groupies, supporters

   • 1952, Old Testament, Revised Standard Version, Thomas Nelson & Sons, Isaiah 1:3:

     The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand.

8. One's colleagues or employees.
10. A person's ancestors, relatives or family.

    Synonyms: kin, kith, folks

12. The mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.

    Synonyms: populace, commoners, citizenry

Usage notes

• The word people today takes a plural verb in most senses.
• Nowadays, persons as the plural of person is considered highly formal. Several major style guides recommend people rather than persons. For example, the Associated Press and the New York Times recommend people except in quotations and set phrases. Under the traditional distinction, which Garner says is pedantic, persons describes a finite, known number of individuals, rather than the collective term people. Persons remains in use in technical and legal contexts.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Jamaican Creole: piipl
• Pijin: pipol
• Sranan Tongo: pipel
• Tok Pisin: pipel

Translations

See also

• sheeple

Verb

people (third-person singular simple present peoples, present participle peopling, simple past and past participle peopled)

2. (transitive) To stock with people or inhabitants; to fill as with people; to populate.
3. (intransitive) To become populous or populated.
5. (transitive) To inhabit; to occupy; to populate.
   • a. 1645, John Milton, Il Penseroso, lines 7–8:

     […] / As thick and numberless / As the gay motes that people the Sun Beams, / […]

6. (rare, informal) To interact with people; to socialize.

Usage notes

• The informal interaction sense is chiefly used in the negative.

Derived terms

• peopler

Translations

References

• “people”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Further reading

• People on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• People in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• “people”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Peploe

French

Alternative forms

• pipole

Etymology

Since 2000, named after People, an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news, human-interest stories, and gossip. Doublet of peuple and pueblo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pi.pɔl/, /pi.pœl/

Noun

people m or f by sense (plural people)

1. (countable) a celebrity, celebrities, famous person(s)

   Synonyms: célébrité, personne connue, personnalité, personnage public

   • 2008, Martine Delvaux, "L’égoïsme romantique de Frédéric Beigbeder" ("Frédéric Beigbeder's L’égoïsme romantique (Romantic Egotism)"), in Alain-Philippe Durand (editor), Frédéric Beigbeder et ses doubles (Frédéric Beigbeder and His Doubles), Rodopi, →ISBN, page 95:

Usage notes

• The French noun people is frequently italicized as a loanword, as in the quotations above.

Derived terms

• pipolisation

Noun

people m (uncountable)

1. (uncountable) showbusiness, popular media that feature stories on celebrities and famous people (as represented by magazines such as People, (UK) Hello!, (France) Paris Match)

Middle English

Noun

people

1. Alternative form of peple

Old French

Noun

people oblique singular, m (oblique plural peoples, nominative singular peoples, nominative plural people)

1. (Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of pueple

References

• pople_1 in Anglo-Norman Dictionary, Aberystwyth University, 2022