What does "persona" mean?

1. (public image) the personality or image that you show to other people, which is often different from your private self. 2. (performance character) a character that an actor or performer creates for the public. 3. (marketing/design profile) a description of a typical customer used by companies to help them design products.

persona

US //pɝˈsoʊnə// UK //pɜːsˈəʊnɐ// per·sona

1 public image (n.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

the personality or image that you show to other people, which is often different from your private self.

the social facade or public face an individual presents to the world, often contrasting with their inner character.

Example

In public, the politician maintained a friendly persona, but he was actually quite shy.

Example

The CEO carefully cultivated a persona of approachable humility, despite her reputation for being a ruthless negotiator behind closed doors.
- true self
2 performance character (n.)
C1 Advanced Formal Theatre

a character that an actor or performer creates for the public.

a fictional or semi-fictional character adopted by a performer or writer.

Example

The singer's stage persona is much more aggressive than her real personality.

Example

The comedian's stage persona was so convincing that fans were often surprised by his quiet, academic nature in real life.
- character
- alter ego
- role

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3 marketing/design profile (n.)
C1 Advanced Technical Academic Computing

a description of a typical customer used by companies to help them design products.

a representative profile of a target user or customer type, used to guide product development and marketing strategy.

Example

The design team created a persona named 'Sarah' to represent their average user.

Example

By developing detailed user personas, the software engineers were able to anticipate the specific technical challenges a novice user might encounter.
- profile
- archetype

Origin

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.