“persons” is a form of
person
UK /ˈpɜː.sən/ · US /ˈpɜɹ.sən/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms people persons personing personning personed personned
- noun An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. “Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.”
- noun 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.
- noun (Christianity) Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
- noun Any sapient or socially intelligent being.
- noun (in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing). “Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.”
- noun (in a compound noun or noun phrase) A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).
- noun (in a compound noun or noun phrase) A worker in a specified function or specialty. “I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.”
- noun The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
- verb (transitive, gender-neutral) To man, to supply with staff or crew.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
agent being bloak bloke body buddy cunt fellow featherless biped finger gink guy homo Homo sapien human human being individual lede man naked ape someone somebody mortal soul
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. Displaced native Old English hād (“person, individual”). Doublet of parson and persona.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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]
- noun The bodily form of a human being; body; outward appearance; as, of comely person.
- verb To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate. [Obs.]
Etymology [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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “person”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details