See Also: person to person epidemic(medicine)
person(1)(dictionary)
person(2)(dictionary)
first person(dictionary)
person-to-person(dictionary)
person(dictionary)
Person(medicine)
second person(dictionary)
third person(dictionary)
two-person(dictionary)

person (oh)



[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old French; Origin: persone, from Latin persona 'actor's mask, character in a play, person', probably from Etruscan phersu 'mask']
plural people /5pi:pEl/
a human being, especially considered as someone with their own particular character
::He was a very nice person, always pleasant and friendly.
::The only person who really said anything helpful was Jack.
kind/type/sort of person
::David was not the sort of person who found it easy to talk about his feelings.
::I like her as a person , but not as a boss.
::I still know quite a lot of people in the village.
::a group of young people
city/cat/night etc person
(=someone who likes a particular kind of thing)
::I'm not a morning person.
in person
if you do something in person, you go somewhere and do it yourself, instead of doing something by letter, asking someone else to do it etc
::You have to sign for it in person.
businessperson/salesperson etc
someone who works in business, who sells things etc
-see also chairperson , spokesperson
plural persons
formal or law someone who is not known or not named
::The police are appealing for any person who was in the area at this time to contact them.
::murder by person or persons unknown
::All 115 persons on board were killed.
on/about your person
formal if you have something on or about your person, you have it in your pockets or attached to you
::Customs officers found a gun concealed about his person.
in the person of sb
formal used before the name of someone who you have just mentioned in a more general way
::I was met by the police in the person of Sergeant Black.
-see also first person , missing person , person-to-person , second person , third person
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GRAMMAR
The plural of person is usually people : Sixty four people (NOT persons) died in the fire.
Persons is also used, but only in public notices and other formal contexts : All persons born in the United States are citizens of the United States.
People meaning 'more than one person' is already plural and cannot form a plural with 's' : A lot of British people (NOT peoples) are employed by foreign firms.
People meaning 'race' or 'nation' is countable and you can add 's' to form a plural in the normal way : African peoples