Noun: person
| Singular | person |
| Plural | people; persons |
Sample Sentences
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1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE
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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.
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“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:]
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Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.
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[…]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, →OCLC, page 186:]
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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:]
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[…]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 Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 155–156:]
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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:]
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three persons and one God [1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie:]
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Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.
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I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.
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[…]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 1, member 2, subsection 3, page 347:]
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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:]
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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]
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At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.
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[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 ... [1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4]
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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:]
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'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:]
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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. [2022 August 23, Chris Brinkley, My Story of Us: Thomas, Smartypants Romance, →ISBN:]
Nouns inflected like person
almsperson,
outdoorsperson,
Yorkshireperson,
little person,
bald person,
cyberperson,
linesperson,
blind person,
floorperson,
layperson,
catperson,
Cornishperson,
boat person,
computer person,
ape-person,
person,
stateless person,
conperson,
Etymology
1. Etymology tree
2. Latin persōna
3. Anglo-Norman persouneder.
4. Middle English persoun
5. English person
6. 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. See: Middle English Nouns '
persoun', French Nouns '
personne', Latin Nouns '
persōna'.
Verbs referencing "person"
Spanish Nouns
persona.