person

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English persoun, personne et al., from Anglo-Norman parsone, persoun et al. (Old French persone (“human being”), French personne), and its source Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask”). In this sense, displaced native man, which came to mean primarily "adult male" in Middle English; see Old English mann. Doublet of parson and persona.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɜːsn̩/, [ˈpʰɜːsn̩]
• (General American) enPR: pûrʹsn, pûrʹsən, IPA^(key): /ˈpɜɹs(ə)n/, [ˈpʰɝsn̩]
• (New England, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑsən/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)sən
• Hyphenation: per‧son

Noun

person (plural people or persons)

1. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human 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 from Perſons 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.
   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 three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
   3. Any sapient or socially intelligent being.
   4. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing). [from 20th c.]

   5. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).
   6. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) A worker in a specified function or specialty.

2. The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc. [from 14th c.]
   • 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, his person foreign.
3. (law) Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts. [from 14th c.]

4. (law, euphemistic) The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
   • 1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4:

     [E]very Person wilfully, openly, lewdly, and obscenely exposing his Person 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) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person. [from 14th c.]
6. (biology) A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals[19th century].

Usage notes

• In senses 1.1, 1.3, and 1.4, the plural is most commonly people. In senses 1.2, 2, 3, and 5, persons is the only plural.
• Traditionally a distinction has often been made in formal language whereby people is used of human beings in general and of larger, more anonymous groups, while persons describes a finite, known number of individuals. To the degree that speakers still use the plural persons, 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 recommend people. 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 a person 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 that person, but I am determined to endure no longer a course of behaviour so disrespectful to me.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:person

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

• Nigerian Pidgin: pesin

Translations

Verb

person (third-person singular simple present persons, present participle personing or personning, simple past and past participle personed or personned)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
2. (transitive, gender-neutral) To man, to supply with staff or crew.

References

Further reading

• “person”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• person in Britannica Dictionary
• person in Sentence collocations by Cambridge Dictionary
• person in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• person in WordReference English Collocations

Anagrams

• Posner, nopers, preons, prones, spreon

Breton

Noun

person m (plural personed)

1. vicar

Inflection

Danish

Etymology

From Latin persona.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -oːˀn

Noun

person c (singular definite personen, plural indefinite personer)

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

Inflection

References

• “person” in Den Danske Ordbog

Esperanto

Noun

person

1. accusative singular of perso

Finnish

Adjective

person

1. genitive singular of perso

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch persoon, from Middle Dutch persone, ultimately from Latin persōna. Doublet of persona.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pərˈsɔn]
• Rhymes: -sɔn, -ɔn, -n
• Hyphenation: pêr‧son

Noun

person (first-person possessive personku, second-person possessive personmu, third-person possessive personnya)

1. (uncommon) person, individual

   Synonyms: perseorangan, pribadi

Related terms

Further reading

• “person” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin persona.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

person m (definite singular personen, indefinite plural personer, definite plural personene)

1. a person

Derived terms

References

• “person” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin persona.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pær.suːn/, [pæ.ˈʂuːn]

Noun

person m (definite singular personen, indefinite plural personar, definite plural personane)

1. a person

Derived terms

References

• “person” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Scots

Noun

person (plural people)

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, any sentient or socially intelligent being.

Swedish

Etymology

From Latin persona.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛrˈsuːn/, [pɛˈʂuːn]

Noun

person c

1. a person, (in the plural) people

   Synonym: (in the plural, colloquial) pers

2. (grammar) person

Usage notes

Not formal like persons in the plural. Matches people in tone.

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

• personage
• personal (“staff”)
• personalia
• personell
• personifiera (“personify”)
• personifikation (“personification”)
• personlig (“personal, individual”)
• personligen (“personally”)

See also

• folk
• människa
• snubbe

References

• person in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• person in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• person in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• porens, porsen, ropens

Welsh

Etymology

Ultimately borrowed from Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), probably via Middle English or Old French persone (“human being”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛrsɔn/

Noun

person m (plural personau)

1. person

   Synonym: unigolyn

2. (grammar) person

   yn y trydydd person ― in the third person

Derived terms

• personol

Noun

person m (plural personiaid)

1. parson
2. clergyman

   Synonyms: clerigwr, offeiriad

Mutation

References

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