Word.ws English Dictionary

person

Syllables: per·son/ˈpɜː.sən//ˈpɜɹ.sən/

person noun: an individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.

Noun

person (plural people or persons)

  1. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
    • 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...1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE
    • “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 rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.[…]”1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 85
    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.
      • […]his firſt appearance vpon the Stage, in his new perſon of a Sycophant or Iugler[…]1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...
      • 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
    2. 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
    3. Any sapient or socially intelligent being.
    4. Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).
      • Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.
    5. A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).
    6. A worker in a specified function or specialty.
      • I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.
  2. The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
    • […]when the young Ladies laughed at her for it, ſhe replied that it was not his perſon that ſhe did embrace and reverence, but the divine beauty of his Soule.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...
    • 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
  3. Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.
    • At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.
  4. (euphemistic) The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
    • [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...1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4
  5. 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.
  6. 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
  7. 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
    • Standing in the rain, she looked at me and said, "I have lost my person. Cal was my person. What am I going to do? I lost my person." 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...2022 August 23, Chris Brinkley, My Story of Us: Thomas, Smartypants Romance, →ISBN

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.
    • Or let us perſon him like ſome wretched itinerary Judge, […]1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], “That ’’Beza’’’s opinion of regulating sinne by a politick law, cannot be sound”, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book II...
  2. (gender-neutral, transitive) To man, to supply with staff or crew.
    • “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’s personning the fort back...1981, John Nichols, “Sunday”, in The Nirvana Blues, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published May 1983, page 89
    • 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.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, columns 1–2

Proper noun capitalized: Person

Person

  1. A surname.

person meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

person in Hindi

individual
मनुष्य manuṣya, जन jan, व्यक्ति vyakti, लोक lok, मानव mānav, मानस mānas
specifically a human being — see also human, human being, man
इंसान insān, मनुष्य manuṣya, मानव mānav, जन jan
character or part, as in a play
चरित्र caritra, पात्र pātra
the physical body seen as distinct from the mind
तन tan

person in Tamil

individual
ஆள் āḷ, நபர் napar, புருசன் purucaṉ, மனிதன் maṉitaṉ

person in Marathi

individual
व्यक्ती vyaktī

person in Urdu

individual
شَخْص śaxs
specifically a human being — see also human, human being, man
اِنْسان insān, آدْمی ādmī, مَنُشیَہ manuśya, مانَو mānau
More languagesFewer languages
person in Bengali
ব্যক্তি bêkti, লোক lōk
person in Telugu
వ్యక్తి vyakti, మానవుడు mānavuḍu, మనిషి maniṣi
person in Malayalam
വ്യക്തി vyakti, നരൻ naraṉ, ആൾ āḷ, ഡാവ് ḍāvŭ
person in Kannada
ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ vyakti
person in Punjabi
ਮਨੁੱਖ manukkha
person in Gujarati
લોક lok, માણસ māṇas, જણ jaṇ, સખસ sakhas
person in Odia
ଜଣ jaṇa, ପରାଣୀ parāṇi, ଲୋକ loka, ପୁରୁଷ puruṣa
person in Sanskrit
पुरुष puruṣa, मनुष्य manuṣya, मानव mānava, जन jana
person in Sinhala
පුද්ගලයා pudgalayā
person in Assamese
লোক lûk
person in Nepali
मान्छे mānche
person in Pashto
کسه kəsə, شخص šaxs, فرد fard, آدم ādám
person in Tagalog
tao, panauhan
person in Arabic
شَخْص šaḵṣ, مَرْء marʔ, فَرْد fard, شخص šaḵṣ
person in Malay
orang, manusia, insan
person in Indonesian
orang
person in Persian
شَخْص šaxs, کَس kas, آدَم âdam, فَرْد fard
person in Thai
คน kon, บุคคล bùk-kon
person in Vietnamese
người, ngôi
person in Myanmar
လူ lu, ပုဂ္ဂိုလ် pugguil, မနုဿ ma.nu.ssa., လူသား lusa:

Examples of person in a sentence

  • Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.
  • […]to beare rule, which was thy part / And perſon, had’ſt thou known thy ſelf aright.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert...
  • 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...
  • 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
  • Standing in the rain, she looked at me and said, "I have lost my person.2022 August 23, Chris Brinkley, My Story of Us: Thomas, Smartypants Romance, →ISBN:

All 40 example sentences with person

Synonyms of person

16 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of person

Forms of person

Noun
pluralpeople
pluralpersons
Verb
third-person singular presentpersons
present participlepersoning
present participlepersonning
past participlepersoned
pastpersoned
past participlepersonned
pastpersonned

Plural of person: people or persons

Origin of person

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.

Words formed from person

Phrases with person

57 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with person

Questions about person

What does person mean?
Person means an individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
What is person in Hindi?
Person in Hindi is मनुष्य (manuṣya), जन (jan), व्यक्ति (vyakti). See Person meaning in Hindi.
How do you use person in a sentence?
Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.
What part of speech is person?
Person can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce person?
Person is pronounced /ˈpɜː.sən/ (UK).
What is the plural of person?
The plural of person is people.

Words near person in the dictionary

  1. persnicketiness
  2. persnickety
  3. Perso-
  4. Perso-Arabic
  5. Persoid
  6. person
  7. Person County
  8. person deprived of liberty
  9. person from Porlock
  10. person having ordinary skill in the art
  11. person in the street

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: person (page history and authors); Person (page history and authors); ആൾ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); જણ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଜଣ (Odia) (page history and authors); লোক (Assamese) (page history and authors); मान्छे (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-person.ogg, En-us-person.ogg.

Cite this entry: “person.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/person. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.