# person

Pronunciation: say "PUR-suhn" US /ˈpɝ.sən/, UK /ˈpɜː.sən/

## Noun

1. A human being regarded as an individual, of any gender.
   - Simple: One human being, whether a man, woman, or child.
   - _Every person deserves to be treated with respect._
   - _Only one person can win the award each year._
2. Someone who likes, or feels a natural affinity for, the thing named, as in a numbers person.
   - Simple: Someone who likes or enjoys a certain thing.
   - _He's a real numbers person and loves untangling spreadsheets._
   - _I'm not a winter person; the cold drains all my energy._
3. A worker in a named function or specialty, often in compounds such as delivery person or repair person.
   - Simple: Someone who does a certain job, as in a delivery person.
   - _The repair person checked the wiring before leaving._
   - _She's the finance person on the team and handles every budget._
4. In grammar, a category distinguishing the speaker, the one addressed, and the one spoken about.
   - Simple: In grammar, the way words show who is speaking, who is spoken to, or who is spoken about.
   - _Spanish verb endings shift with both person and number._
   - _The pronoun 'they' can mark third person singular or plural._
5. In law, any individual or formal organization that has standing before the courts.
   - Simple: In law, a human or a group such as a company that has legal rights and can go to court.
   - _Under the statute, a corporation is a person able to enter contracts._
   - _The court ruled that the charity, as a legal person, could hold title to the land._
6. The physical body of a being, regarded as distinct from the mind, character, and personality.
   - Simple: The body of a human, thought of as separate from the mind or character.
   - _The officers discovered the documents concealed on his person._
   - _She carried no money on her person that evening._
7. An exceptionally compatible person with whom someone shares a deep bond, especially a romantic partner.
   - Simple: A special someone you feel deeply connected to, often a romantic partner.
   - _From the moment they met, he knew she was his person._
   - _After twenty years of marriage, she's still my person, the first one I call with news._
8. Any sapient or socially intelligent being, including non-human creatures capable of reason.
   - Simple: Any being that can think and reason like an intelligent creature, even if it is not human.
   - _Some philosophers argue that any sapient being should be regarded as a person._
   - _In the film, the android slowly comes to see herself as a person, not a machine._
9. In Christian theology, each of the three hypostases of the Trinity, namely the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit.
   - Simple: In Christian belief, any one of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who together are God.
   - _The creed affirms that the Son is a distinct person from the Father._
   - _Each person of the Trinity shares the same divine nature._
10. A character or role, as in a play, or an assumed character that one presents to others. *(literary)*
   - Simple: A character or role that someone plays or pretends to be.
   - _The poem is spoken in the person of a dying soldier._
   - _She wrote the column in the person of a world-weary detective._
12. In law, a euphemism for the human genitalia, specifically the penis.
   - Simple: A polite legal word for the private parts, especially the penis.
   - _The defendant was accused of exposing his person to passersby._
   - _Witnesses testified that the man had indecently exposed his person near the market._

## Verb

11. To supply something with the staff or crew needed to operate it.
   - Simple: To provide a place or service with the workers needed to run it.
   - _Reservists were called up to person the border checkpoints._
   - _The charity struggled to person its rural clinics with trained staff._

## Verb

13. To represent something as a person, or to take on and act out another's character. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To show something as if it were a person, or to act the part of someone else.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In biology, an individual unit (such as a plant bud, or a polyp or zooid in a colonial animal) within a larger organism.

## Origin

It came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman and Old French persone ("human being"), from Latin persōna ("mask used by an actor; role, part, character"), which was perhaps a loanword from Etruscan φersu ("mask"). In this sense it displaced the native word man, and it is a doublet of parson and persona.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/person (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).