# person

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpɜː.sən/ · frequency rank #257

## Definitions
1. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
2. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
3. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
4. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
5. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
6. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
7. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.
8. The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.
9. Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.
10. The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
11. A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person.
12. A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.
13. A soulmate; someone, especially a romantic partner, with whom one is exceptionally compatible and connected.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **peso** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-peso)
- **prison** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-prison)
- **poison** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-poison)
- **Peyton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-peyton)
- **persons** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-persons)
- **persona** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-persona)
- **Pierson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-pierson)
- **personal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-personal)
- **Peterson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/person-vs-peterson)
- **pers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pers-vs-person)
- **Perot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/perot-vs-person)
- **period** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/period-vs-person)
- **pardon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pardon-vs-person)
- **Persia** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/persia-vs-person)
- **parton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parton-vs-person)
- **Perrin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/perrin-vs-person)
- **parson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parson-vs-person)
- **pension** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pension-vs-person)
- **Persian** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/persian-vs-person)
- **Pearson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pearson-vs-person)

## Common misspellings (9)
`eprson`, `perosn`, `perrson`, `persno`, `personn`, `persson`, `pesron`, `pperson`, `preson`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/person