Word: person Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Latin persōna Anglo-Norman persouneder. Middle English persoun English 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. Doublet of parson and persona. Pronunciation: /ˈpɜː.sən/, [ˈpʰɜːsn̩], /ˈpɜɹ.sən/, [ˈpʰɝsn̩], /ˈpɑ.sən/ 1. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. Example: 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. Example: “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.[…]” 2. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. Example: […]his firſt appearance vpon the Stage, in his new perſon of a Sycophant or Iugler[…] Example: How different […]is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate, and […]that of a friend! 3. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. Example: three persons and one God 4. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. 5. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. Example: Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats. 6. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. 7. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. Example: I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved. 8. The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc. Example: […]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. Example: The Captain, inclining his military person, sat sideways to be closer and kinder[…]. 9. Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts. Example: At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person. 10. The human genitalia; specifically, the penis. Labels: euphemistic Example: [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 ... 11. 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. 12. 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. Example: True corms, composed of united personae […] usually arise by gemmation, […] yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons. 13. A soulmate; someone, especially a romantic partner, with whom one is exceptionally compatible and connected. Example: '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.' Example: 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.