person
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pɜːrsən/
ipa: [ˈpʰɜː.sᵊn]
ipa: [ˈpʰɝ.sᵊn]
ipa: /ˈpɑsən/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈpə(r)sən/
note: Indic
ipa: /-zən/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)sən
rhymes: (Indic, also) -ɜː(ɹ)zən
Forms: form: people
form: persons
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.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
text: “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.[…]”
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 85:
text: Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.
glosses: An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
examples: text: […]his firſt appearance vpon the Stage, in his new perſon of a Sycophant or Iugler[…]
ref: 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, →OCLC, page 186:
text: How different […]is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate, and […]that of a friend!
ref: 1664, Robert South, Of the Love of Christ to his Disciples:
text: […]to beare rule, which was thy part / And perſon, had’ſt thou known thy ſelf aright.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 155–156:
text: No man can long put on a person and act a part.
ref: 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:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: three persons and one God
ref: 1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie:
topics: Christianity
glosses: 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.
glosses: An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
Any sapient or socially intelligent being.
examples: text: Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.
glosses: An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).
raw_tags: in a compound noun or noun phrase
glosses: An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).
raw_tags: in a compound noun or noun phrase
examples: text: I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.
glosses: An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
A worker in a specified function or specialty.
raw_tags: in a compound noun or noun phrase
examples: text: […]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.
ref: 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, page 347:
text: The Captain, inclining his military person, sat sideways to be closer and kinder[…].
ref: 1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter XVI, in What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC, page 188:
text: At first blush it seemed that what was striking about him rested on the fact that his dress was exotic, his person foreign.
ref: 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), page 418
text: Meanwhile, the dazed Sullivan, dressed like a bum with no identification on his person, is arrested and put to work on a brutal Southern chain gang.
ref: 2004, The New York Times:
glosses: The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
examples: text: At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.
topics: law
glosses: Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.
examples: text: [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 ...
ref: 1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4
topics: law
glosses: The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: 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.
examples: text: True corms, composed of united personae […] usually arise by gemmation, […] yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons.
ref: 1884, Patrick Geddes, “Morphology”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 16:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: 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.
examples: text: '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.'
ref: 2022 January 25, Emily Forbes, The Perfect Mother for His Son, Harlequin, →ISBN:
text: 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 coach. I get if you have lost your dog or cat [...] But I lost my person? […] I finally understood [...] Because I realized that you are my 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.
ref: 2022 August 23, Chris Brinkley, My Story of Us: Thomas, Smartypants Romance, →ISBN:
glosses: A soulmate; someone, especially a romantic partner, with whom one is exceptionally compatible and connected.
Synonyms: word: agent
word: being
word: bloak
word: bloke
word: body
word: buddy
word: cunt
word: fellow
word: featherless biped
word: finger
word: gink
word: guy
word: homo
word: Homo sapien
word: human
word: human being
word: individual
word: lede
word: man
word: naked ape
word: pal
word: person
word: sapien
word: sapiens
word: soul
word: talakawa
word: wight
Hypernyms: word: animal
word: creature
word: entity
word: mortal
Hyponyms: word: advance person
word: bald person
word: businessperson
word: cameraperson
word: chairperson
word: congressperson
word: dead person walking
word: draftsperson
word: Earth Surface Person
word: first person
word: foreperson
word: houseperson
word: layperson
word: newsperson
word: nonperson
word: ombudsperson
word: people person
word: person deprived of liberty
word: person of interest
word: physical person
word: repairperson
word: salesperson
word: second person
word: spokesperson
word: stateless person
word: stuntperson
word: tadpole person
word: third person
word: unperson
word: VIP
word: woman
word: boy
word: girl
word: child
word: adolescent
word: adult
word: relative
word: inhabitant
word: African
word: Asian
word: European
word: North American
word: Oceanian
word: South American
word: friend
word: enemy
word: ruler
word: nobleman
word: worker
word: attendant
word: humanitarian
word: villain
word: important person
word: boss
word: nonentity
word: genius
word: idiot
word: jerk
word: prude
Derived terms: about one's person
adperson
ambulanceperson
anchorperson
antiperson
Antperson
ape-person
artificial person
assemblyperson
as the next person
barperson
baseperson
battered person syndrome
bellperson
birthing person
blind person
boat person
boatperson
bondsperson
bushperson
catperson
cattleperson
caveperson
certain person
Chinaperson
churchperson
cis person
clansperson
clergyperson
committeeperson
computer person
conperson
contact person
corpsperson
councilperson
counterperson
countryperson
cowperson
craftsperson
crewperson
Cumberperson
cyberperson
deaf person
deliveryperson
deperson
depersonate
displaced person
doorperson
dustperson
Dutchperson
Earthperson
Earth Surface Person
Englishperson
fireperson
first-person
fisherperson
flagperson
floorperson
flyperson
fourth person
freedperson
Frenchperson
freshperson
frontiersperson
G2P
garbageperson
genderbread person
goods-to-person
go-to person
government-to-person
greensperson
gunperson
handyperson
helmsperson
highly sensitive person
horseperson
huntsperson
infantryperson
in person
in-person
internally displaced person
interperson
in the person of
intraperson
ironperson
jazzperson
journeyperson
juridical person
juristic person
juryperson
key person insurance
key person risk
kinsperson
Klansperson
lay person
leatherperson
legal person
linesperson
litigant in person
little person
lobsterperson
longshoreperson
madperson
mailperson
marksperson
mediaperson
merperson
microperson
militiaperson
milkperson
minor attracted person
minor-attracted person
misperson
missing person
morning person
multiperson
named person
natural person
newspaperperson
night person
nurseryperson
one-person
on one's person
overperson
party person
patrolperson
personable
personal
personate
personative
person-day
person from Porlock
person having ordinary skill in the art
person-hour
personhunt
personification
personify
person in the street
personise
personish
personism
personist
personize
personkind
personless
personlike
personly
person-made
person-month
personnel
personness
personocracy
person of ordinary skill in the art
personology
person-power
personpower
personship
person-to-person
person under train
person unknown
person up
person-year
pitchperson
plantsperson
ploughperson
pod person
point person
pointsperson
policeperson
postperson
pressperson
real person fiction
real-person fiction
reasonable person
roundsperson
Scotsperson
selectperson
serviceperson
showperson
sideperson
signalperson
slaughterperson
snowperson
soundperson
spinson
sportsperson
statesperson
steersperson
stiff person syndrome
stiff-person syndrome
superperson
suppressive person
tadpole person
townsperson
trackperson
tradesperson
trans person
tribesperson
two-person rule
underperson
venireperson
very important person
vestryperson
waitperson
weatherperson
workperson
yacht person
yardperson
Related terms: word: Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class III § 372. Mankind
word: Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 3. Substantiality