people
- 01 A1 Beginner
n.the plural of 'person'; you use this to talk about a group of humans.
n.the standard plural of 'person' used to refer to a body of individuals collectively.
Simple“There were so many people at the concert that we couldn't see the stage.”
In context“The survey indicates that most people prefer working from home at least two days a week to improve their work-life balance.”
Usagefunctions as the plural of 'person' but takes a plural verb.
PitfallThere were many persons at the park. There were many people at the park.While 'persons' is grammatically correct, it is very formal and mostly used in legal contexts. Use 'people' for everyday situations.
Synonyms - 02 B1 Intermediate
n.a group of people who belong to the same country, race, or culture.
n.a body of persons sharing a common religion, culture, language, or inherited condition of life.
Simple“The indigenous people of this region have lived here for thousands of years.”
In context“The museum's latest exhibition explores the history and traditions of the various peoples of the Amazon basin.”
UsageIn this sense, 'people' is a countable singular noun and can be pluralised as 'peoples'.
Synonyms - 03 B1 Intermediate
n.your family members or the people you come from.
n.one's ancestors, relatives, or immediate family members.
Simple“I am going back to my hometown to spend the holidays with my people.”
In context“He felt a strong urge to visit the village where his people had lived before emigrating in the late nineteenth century.”
- 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the ordinary citizens of a country, rather than the leaders or the rich.
n.the mass of a community as distinguished from a special class or elite.
Simple“The politician claimed to represent the will of the people.”
In context“The revolution was driven by the people's desire for greater economic equality and political representation.”
Antonyms - 05 C1 Advanced
v.to fill a place with people or characters.
v.to stock with inhabitants or to occupy a space; often used in the context of fiction or history.
Simple“The author likes to people her books with strange and interesting characters.”
In context“The valley was once peopled by a thriving community of farmers before the industrial revolution drew them to the cities.”
Usage people living · people died · people feel
From Middle English puple, peple, peeple, from Anglo-Norman people, from Old French pueple, peuple, pople, from Latin populus (“a people, nation”), from Old Latin populus, from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos, from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”) of unknown origin. Doublet of pueblo. Gradually ousted native English lede and, partially, folk. Originally used with singular verbs (e.g. "the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness" in the King James Version of 2 Samuel 17:29), the plural aspect of people is probably due to influence from Middle English lede, leed, a plural since Old English times; see lēode.
From Middle English peplen, peuplien, partly from Middle French peupler (from peuple (“people”)) and partly from the noun (etymology 1).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
For Mandarin speakers 人家 (rénjia) means “other people; others; or a third-person pronoun used for oneself” — While 'people' is a neutral plural for humans, '人家 (rénjia)' carries specific pragmatic tones in Mandarin, such as a playful or indirect way to refer to oneself, which is never captured by the English word.
Mandarin does not distinguish between singular and plural nouns via inflection, leading learners to mistakenly treat 'people' as a singular noun (e.g., 'people is') or to add a plural suffix resulting in 'peoples' for a group of individuals.
The Mandarin phrase '很多人 (hěn duō rén)' is frequently used where English prefers 'many people'. Because 'many' feels more formal to Mandarin learners, they over-rely on 'a lot of people' or literal translations of 'very many people' in academic contexts.
For Japanese speakers Japanese marks plurality through context or optional suffixes like ~たち (~tachi), and does not have a distinct plural noun for 'person'. Learners may transfer this by using the singular 'person' or the non-standard 'persons' where the collective noun 'people' is required.
Japanese uses the verb 多い (ōi) as a predicative adjective meaning 'are many'. This often leads learners to say 'People are many' or 'Many people' as a standalone sentence rather than using the existential 'There are many people'.