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per⋅son
[pur-suh
n] 
–noun
—Idioms| 1. | a human being, whether man, woman, or child: The table seats four persons. |
| 2. | a human being as distinguished from an animal or a thing. |
| 3. | Sociology. an individual human being, esp. with reference to his or her social relationships and behavioral patterns as conditioned by the culture. |
| 4. | Philosophy. a self-conscious or rational being. |
| 5. | the actual self or individual personality of a human being: You ought not to generalize, but to consider the person you are dealing with. |
| 6. | the body of a living human being, sometimes including the clothes being worn: He had no money on his person. |
| 7. | the body in its external aspect: an attractive person to look at. |
| 8. | a character, part, or role, as in a play or story. |
| 9. | an individual of distinction or importance. |
| 10. | a person not entitled to social recognition or respect. |
| 11. | Law. a human being (natural person) or a group of human beings, a corporation, a partnership, an estate, or other legal entity (artificial person or juristic person) recognized by law as having rights and duties. |
| 12. | Grammar. a category found in many languages that is used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to or about whom he or she is speaking. In English there are three persons in the pronouns, the first represented by I and we, the second by you, and the third by he, she, it, and they. Most verbs have distinct third person singular forms in the present tense, as writes; the verb be has, in addition, a first person singular form am. |
| 13. | Theology. any of the three hypostases or modes of being in the Trinity, namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. |
| 14. | be one's own person, to be free from restrictions, control, or dictatorial influence: Now that she's working, she feels that she's her own person. |
| 15. | in person, in one's own bodily presence; personally: Applicants are requested to apply in person. |
Origin:
1175–1225; ME persone < L persōna role (in life, a play, or a tale) (LL: member of the Trinity), orig. actor's mask < Etruscan phersu (< Gk prósōpa face, mask) + -na a suffix
1175–1225; ME persone < L persōna role (in life, a play, or a tale) (LL: member of the Trinity), orig. actor's mask < Etruscan phersu (< Gk prósōpa face, mask) + -na a suffix
Synonyms:
1. Person, individual, personage are terms applied to human beings. Person is the most general and common word: the average person. Individual views a person as standing alone or as a single member of a group: the characteristics of the individual; its implication is sometimes derogatory: a disagreeable individual. Personage is used (sometimes ironically) of an outstanding or illustrious person: We have a distinguished personage visiting us today.
1. Person, individual, personage are terms applied to human beings. Person is the most general and common word: the average person. Individual views a person as standing alone or as a single member of a group: the characteristics of the individual; its implication is sometimes derogatory: a disagreeable individual. Personage is used (sometimes ironically) of an outstanding or illustrious person: We have a distinguished personage visiting us today.
-person
| a combining form of person, replacing in existing compound words such paired, sex-specific forms as -man and -woman or -er1 and -ess: chairperson; salesperson; waitperson. |
Usage note:
The -person compounds are increasingly used, especially in the press, on radio and television, and in government and corporate communications, with the object of avoiding sex discrimination in language. Earlier practice was to use -man as the final element in such compounds regardless of the sex of the person referred to (anchorman; businessman) or to use -woman when referring to a woman (anchorwoman; businesswoman). Some object to these new -person compounds on the grounds that they are awkward or unnecessary, insisting that the equivalent and long-used compounds in -man are generic, not sex-marked. Others reject the -man compounds as discriminatory when applied to women or to persons whose sex is unknown or irrelevant. See also chairperson, -ess, lady, -man, -woman.
The -person compounds are increasingly used, especially in the press, on radio and television, and in government and corporate communications, with the object of avoiding sex discrimination in language. Earlier practice was to use -man as the final element in such compounds regardless of the sex of the person referred to (anchorman; businessman) or to use -woman when referring to a woman (anchorwoman; businesswoman). Some object to these new -person compounds on the grounds that they are awkward or unnecessary, insisting that the equivalent and long-used compounds in -man are generic, not sex-marked. Others reject the -man compounds as discriminatory when applied to women or to persons whose sex is unknown or irrelevant. See also chairperson, -ess, lady, -man, -woman.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To person
| per·son (pûr'sən) n.
[Middle English, from Old French persone, from Latin persōna, mask, role, person, probably from Etruscan phersu, mask.] Usage Note: The word person has found widespread use in recent decades as a gender-neutral alternative to man in the names of occupational and social roles, such as businessperson, chairperson, spokesperson, and layperson. In addition, a variety of entirely new, more inclusive phrases have arisen to compete with or supplant -man compounds. Now we often hear first-year student instead of freshman and letter carrier instead of mailman. In other cases, a clipped form, such as chair for chairman, or a phrase, such as member of the clergy for clergyman, has found widespread use as a neutral alternative. Reflecting this trend, new standards of official usage for occupational titles have been established by the U.S. Department of Labor and other government agencies; for instance, in official contexts, terms such as firefighter and police officer are now generally used in place of fireman and policeman. See Usage Note at man. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Person
Per"son\, 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.]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. [Archaic] His first appearance upon the stage in his new person of a sycophant or juggler. --Bacon. No man can long put on a person and act a part. --Jer. Taylor. To bear rule, which was thy part And person, hadst thou known thyself aright. --Milton. How different is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate and that of a friend! --South. 2. The bodily form of a human being; body; outward appearance; as, of comely person. A fair persone, and strong, and young of age. --Chaucer. If it assume my noble father's person. --Shak. Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined. --Milton. 3. A living, self-conscious being, as distinct from an animal or a thing; a moral agent; a human being; a man, woman, or child. Consider what person stands for; which, I think, is a thinking, intelligent being, that has reason and reflection. --Locke. 4. A human being spoken of indefinitely; one; a man; as, any person present. 5. A parson; the parish priest. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 6. (Theol.) Among Trinitarians, one of the three subdivisions of the Godhead (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost); an hypostasis. "Three persons and one God." --Bk. of Com. Prayer. 7. (Gram.) One of three relations or conditions (that of speaking, that of being spoken to, and that of being spoken of) pertaining to a noun or a pronoun, and thence also to the verb of which it may be the subject. Note: A noun or pronoun, when representing the speaker, is said to be in the first person; when representing what is spoken to, in the second person; when representing what is spoken of, in the third person. 8. (Biol.) 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. --Haeckel. True corms, composed of united person[ae] . . . usually arise by gemmation, . . . yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons. --Encyc. Brit. Artificial, or Fictitious, person (Law), a corporation or body politic. --blackstone. Natural person (Law), a man, woman, or child, in distinction from a corporation. In person, by one's self; with bodily presence; not by representative. "The king himself in person is set forth." --Shak. In the person of, in the place of; acting for. --Shak.Person
Per"son\, v. t. To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate. [Obs.] --Milton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : person
Spanish:
persona,
German:
die Person,
Japanese:
人
person
An inflectional form (see inflection) of pronouns and verbs that distinguishes between the person who speaks (first person), the person who is spoken to (second person), and the person who is spoken about (third person). The pronoun or verb may be singular or plural. For example:
first person singular: I walk.
second person singular: you walk.
third person singular: he/she/it walks.
first person plural: we walk.
second person plural: you walk.
third person plural: they walk.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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person
c.1225, from O.Fr. persone "human being" (12c., Fr. personne), from L. persona "human being," originally "character in a drama, mask," possibly borrowed from Etruscan phersu "mask." This may be related to Gk. Persephone. The use of -person to replace -man in compounds and avoid alleged sexist connotations is first recorded 1971 (in chairperson). Personify first recorded 1727. Personable "pleasing in one's person" is first attested c.1430. In person "by bodily presence" is from 1568. Person-to-person first recorded 1919, originally of telephone calls.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: per·son
Function: noun
1 : NATURAL PERSON
2 : the body of a human being; also : the body and clothing of a human being
3 : one (as a human being or corporation) that is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties —see also JURIDICAL PERSON, LEGAL PERSON, PERSONALITY —per·son·hood noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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person per·son (pûr'sən)
n.
- A living human.
- The composite of characteristics that make up an individual personality; the self.
- The living body of a human.
- Physique and general appearance.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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person
In addition to the idiom beginning with person, also see feel like oneself (a new person); in person; own person, one's.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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