persona
UK /pɜːˈsəʊnə/ · US /pɝˈsoʊnə/ noun
Forms personas personae personæ
- noun A social role. “I've maintained a very public persona.”
- noun A character played by an actor.
- noun (psychology) The mask or appearance one presents to the world. “He keeps his online persona completely separate from his real-world one.”
- noun (marketing, user experience) An imaginary person representing a particular type of client or customer, considered when designing products and services that will appeal to them.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin persōna (“mask; character”), of uncertain origin. Suggested to be from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask; masked individual; actor”), which could be a loan from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon, “face; appearance; mask used in ancient theatre to denote a character or, more generally, a social role”). Doublet of person and parson.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Same as Person, n., 8.
Etymology [L.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “persona”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details