person

Pronunciation: /ˈpɜɹ.sən/

Reading level: easy

Estimated CEFR level: A1 — Beginner

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a human being
  2. noun a human body (usually including the clothing)
  3. noun a grammatical category used in the classification of pronouns, possessive determiners, and verb forms according to whether they indicate the speaker, the addressee, or a third party

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
causal agent, organism
Narrower (hyponyms)
baby buster, adoptee, witness, dribbler, worker, nonmember

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