Dictionary / person
person
- noun
- verb
- from Anglo-Norman
An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
1 All current definitions
Every sense of “person” in current use, as recorded by Wiktionary. Older and obsolete senses are kept separately.
noun
- An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.
- An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.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.
How different […]is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate, and […]that of a friend!1664, Robert South, Of the Love of Christ to his Disciples:
- An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
three persons and one God1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie:
- An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.Any sapient or socially intelligent being.
- An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).
Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.
- An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).
- An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.A worker in a specified function or specialty.
I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.
- The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
The Captain, inclining his military person, sat sideways to be closer and kinder[…].1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter XVI, in What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC, page 188:
- Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.
At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.
- euphemisticThe human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
- 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.
- 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.
True corms, composed of united personae […] usually arise by gemmation, […] yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons.1884, Patrick Geddes, “Morphology”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 16:
- A soulmate; someone, especially a romantic partner, with whom one is exceptionally compatible and connected.
'I still miss her. Every day,' she said. 'She was my person. […] [And when she died,] I'd lost my person. I was eight years old and I'd lost my person. Willow and I even had our own language, as lots of twins do, but I stopped talking after she died.'2022 January 25, Emily Forbes, The Perfect Mother for His Son, Harlequin, →ISBN:
verb
- gender neutraltransitiveTo man, to supply with staff or crew.
And I sat at the counter and watched the cooker cat personning the griddle with one hand and the grill with the other.2006 March 22–28, L.E. [Lady Exister] Leone [pseudonym; Dani Leone], “Ah, Sprrr-ing!”, in Tim Redmond, editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian, volume 40, number 25, San Francisco, Calif., →ISSN, page 61, column 1:
Older & obsolete senses (1)
- obsoletetransitiveTo represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
Cross-check: WordNet senses (3)
- nouna human being — also: individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
- nouna human body (usually including the clothing)
- nouna grammatical category used in the classification of pronouns, possessive determiners, and verb forms according to whether they indicate the speaker, the addressee, or a third party
Synonyms: agent, being, bloak, bloke, body, buddy, cunt, fellow, featherless biped, finger, gink, guy
2 History of the word
The etymology, the path the word travelled, and the words built from it.
The word’s journey, newest to oldest:
- English (today)person
- Middle Englishpersoun
- Anglo-Normanparsone
- Etruscan𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu) “mask”
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. Displaced native Old English hād (“person, individual”). Doublet of parson and persona.
Derivatives — words built from “person”
Phrases & compounds
Related terms
Want to go deeper? See also “person” on Etymonline ↗
3 Original language
Where “person” came from before it was English.
The source marks part of this history as uncertain (it uses words like “perhaps” or “possibly”). Read the full etymology above before treating any single origin as certain.
4 Original meaning
What the word meant at the oldest point the record reaches.
Historical meaning — Webster’s 1913
A historical record, labelled as such: some of these senses are dated or have since shifted.
person n. [OE. persone, persoun, person, parson, OF. persone, F. personne, L. persona a mask (used by actors), a personage, part, a person, fr. personare to sound through; per + sonare to sound. See Per-, and cf. Parson.]
- 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.
- The bodily form of a human being; body; outward appearance; as, of comely person.
- A living, self-conscious being, as distinct from an animal or a thing; a moral agent; a human being; a man, woman, or child.
- A human being spoken of indefinitely; one; a man; as, any person present.
person v. t.
- To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
5 Use it with confidence
Model sentences from the sources, matched to the meaning they show. Read each one aloud, then make your own in the game.
nounMeaning: An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.
nounMeaning: 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.
How different […]is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate, and […]that of a friend!1664, Robert South, Of the Love of Christ to his Disciples:
No man can long put on a person and act a part.1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC:
nounMeaning: Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
three persons and one God1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie:
nounMeaning: Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).
Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.
nounMeaning: A worker in a specified function or specialty.
I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.
nounMeaning: The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
The Captain, inclining his military person, sat sideways to be closer and kinder[…].1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter XVI, in What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC, page 188:
At first blush it seemed that what was striking about him rested on the fact that his dress was exotic, his person foreign.1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), page 418
nounMeaning: a human being
there was too much for one person to do
nounMeaning: a human body (usually including the clothing)
a weapon was hidden on his person
nounMeaning: a grammatical category used in the classification of pronouns, possessive determiners, and verb forms according to whether they indicate the speaker, the addressee, or a third party
stop talking about yourself in the third person
Three steps to owning it
- Pick one meaning above and read its model sentence out loud.
- Say who or what the word is about in your own life, then build a sentence around that.
- Check it against the definition: would a careful reader understand exactly that meaning?
6 The mastery game
Play it here, or print it and do it with pen and paper. At the end you will know the meanings, history, origin and original meaning — and you will have used the word yourself.
Say it, then spell it
person
/ˈpɜː.sən/ · per·son
Say the word out loud three times, slowly. Notice the stressed syllable. When you are ready, hide it and spell it from memory.
Activate Words · Word-mastery worksheet · Name: ______________________ Date: __________
person
/ˈpɜː.sən/ · per·son · noun, verb
Step 1 — Say it and write it
Say “person” out loud three times. Then cover the word and write it three times from memory.
Step 2 — Know every meaning
Read each definition. Then write it again in your own words.
Step 3 — Which meaning is it?
“Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.”
Circle the meaning used.
“Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.”
Circle the meaning used.
“I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.”
Circle the meaning used.
Step 4 — History and origin
Write the word’s journey back in time (each language and form):
Write three words built from “person” and what each means:
Step 5 — Original meaning
The earliest traceable form is Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖. What did it mean?
How does that original meaning connect to the meanings today?
Step 6 — Use it yourself
☐ I can explain its meanings ☐ I know its history ☐ I know its original language ☐ I know its original meaning ☐ I can use it confidently
Answer key — person
Which meaning, sentence 1: A. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
Which meaning, sentence 2: B. Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).
Which meaning, sentence 3: B. A worker in a specified function or specialty.
Origin: A. Anglo-Norman (Anglo-Norman parsone)
Journey: English person ← Middle English persoun ← Anglo-Norman parsone ← Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖
Some derivatives: adperson, ambulanceperson, anchorperson, antiperson, Antperson, ape-person, assemblyperson, barperson
Original meaning: Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 — “mask”
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. Displaced native Old English hād (“person, individual”). Doublet of parson and persona.
Sources: Wiktionary “person” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/person#English), CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org; Princeton WordNet 3.0; Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913, public domain) via GCIDE. Worksheet from https://activatewords.com/w/person