person
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.your physical body and the clothes you are wearing.
n.the physical body of a human being, often in the context of carrying items or physical presence.
Simple“The police officer asked if he had any weapons on his person.”
In context“The security protocol requires that all visitors keep their identification badges visible on their person at all times while inside the facility.”
UsageUsually follows the preposition 'on'.
- 02 C1 Advanced
n.a human or a company that has legal rights and duties.
n.any individual or formal organisation, such as a corporation, that has standing and recognition before a court of law.
Simple“Under the law, a large corporation is treated as a person with certain rights.”
In context“The court had to determine whether the trust could be classified as a legal person for the purposes of the tax dispute.”
Synonymsentitylegal party - 03 B1 Intermediate
n.a way to show if you are talking about yourself, the listener, or someone else.
n.a linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker (first person), the addressee (second person), and others (third person).
Simple“In English, 'I' is the first person and 'you' is the second person.”
In context“The novelist chose to write the entire memoir in the third person to create a sense of emotional distance from the events described.”
UsageCommonly used with 'first', 'second', or 'third'.
Synonymsgrammatical person - 04 C1 Advanced
v.to provide a place or a machine with the people needed to run it.
v.to supply a station, vehicle, or organisation with a crew or staff; used as a gender-neutral alternative to 'man'.
Simple“We need to person the information desk during the busy lunch hour.”
In context“The agency struggled to person the remote observation posts during the winter months due to the extreme weather conditions.”
UsageTransitive verb taking a direct object.
Usage person responsible · person died · person doesn't
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.