Person in Different Languages
Discover 'Person' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Person
Afrikaans persoon | ||
Albanian personi | ||
Amharic ሰው | ||
Arabic شخص | ||
Armenian անձ | ||
Assamese ব্যক্তি | ||
Aymara jaqi | ||
Azerbaijani şəxs | ||
Bambara mɔgɔ | ||
Basque pertsona | ||
Belarusian чалавек | ||
Bengali ব্যক্তি | ||
Bhojpuri आदमी | ||
Bosnian osoba | ||
Bulgarian човек | ||
Catalan persona | ||
Cebuano tawo | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 人 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 人 | ||
Corsican persona | ||
Croatian osoba | ||
Czech osoba | ||
Danish person | ||
Dhivehi މީހާ | ||
Dogri माहनू | ||
Dutch persoon | ||
English person | ||
Esperanto persono | ||
Estonian isik | ||
Ewe ame | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) tao | ||
Finnish henkilö | ||
French la personne | ||
Frisian persoan | ||
Galician persoa | ||
Georgian პიროვნება | ||
German person | ||
Greek πρόσωπο | ||
Guarani yvypóra | ||
Gujarati વ્યક્તિ | ||
Haitian Creole moun | ||
Hausa mutum | ||
Hawaiian kanaka | ||
Hebrew אדם | ||
Hindi व्यक्ति | ||
Hmong tus neeg | ||
Hungarian személy | ||
Icelandic manneskja | ||
Igbo mmadu | ||
Ilocano tao | ||
Indonesian orang | ||
Irish duine | ||
Italian persona | ||
Japanese 人 | ||
Javanese wong | ||
Kannada ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ | ||
Kazakh адам | ||
Khmer មនុស្ស | ||
Kinyarwanda umuntu | ||
Konkani व्यक्ती | ||
Korean 사람 | ||
Krio pɔsin | ||
Kurdish şexs | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) کەس | ||
Kyrgyz адам | ||
Lao ບຸກຄົນ | ||
Latin hominem | ||
Latvian persona | ||
Lingala moto | ||
Lithuanian asmuo | ||
Luganda omuntu | ||
Luxembourgish persoun | ||
Macedonian лице | ||
Maithili व्यक्ति | ||
Malagasy olona | ||
Malay orang | ||
Malayalam വ്യക്തി | ||
Maltese persuna | ||
Maori tangata | ||
Marathi व्यक्ती | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯃꯤ | ||
Mizo mihring | ||
Mongolian хүн | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) လူတစ်ယောက် | ||
Nepali व्यक्ति | ||
Norwegian person | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) munthu | ||
Odia (Oriya) ବ୍ୟକ୍ତି | ||
Oromo nama | ||
Pashto شخص | ||
Persian شخص | ||
Polish osoba | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) pessoa | ||
Punjabi ਵਿਅਕਤੀ | ||
Quechua runa | ||
Romanian persoană | ||
Russian человек | ||
Samoan tagata | ||
Sanskrit व्यक्ति | ||
Scots Gaelic duine | ||
Sepedi motho | ||
Serbian особа | ||
Sesotho motho | ||
Shona munhu | ||
Sindhi شخص | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) පුද්ගලයා | ||
Slovak osoba | ||
Slovenian oseba | ||
Somali qof | ||
Spanish persona | ||
Sundanese jelema | ||
Swahili mtu | ||
Swedish person | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) tao | ||
Tajik шахс | ||
Tamil நபர் | ||
Tatar кеше | ||
Telugu వ్యక్తి | ||
Thai คน | ||
Tigrinya ሰብ | ||
Tsonga munhu | ||
Turkish kişi | ||
Turkmen adam | ||
Twi (Akan) onii | ||
Ukrainian людина | ||
Urdu شخص | ||
Uyghur ئادەم | ||
Uzbek shaxs | ||
Vietnamese người | ||
Welsh person | ||
Xhosa umntu | ||
Yiddish מענטש | ||
Yoruba eniyan | ||
Zulu umuntu |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "persoon" in Afrikaans originates from the Dutch "persoon" which in turn derives from the Latin "persona", meaning "mask" or "character" in a play. |
| Albanian | In Albanian, "personi" also means "mask" or "face", reflecting its Latin root "persona". |
| Amharic | The word “ሰው” can also refer to "men" in contrast to "women", or "humans" in contrast to "animals" |
| Arabic | The Arabic word "شخص" derives from the Greek "πρόσωπον" meaning "face" and carries connotations related to individual presence, character, and appearance. |
| Armenian | "Անձ" (person) derives from the Middle Persian "ʼndcyk", meaning "body", and the Proto-Indo-European "*h₁éntis", referring to "human existence" |
| Azerbaijani | The word "şəxs" in Azerbaijani, Persian and Arabic originates from the Greek word "πρόσωπον" (face, mask), and is cognate with the Latin word "persona" and the English word "person." |
| Basque | The word 'pertsona' is a borrowing from Latin, where 'persona' meant originally a theatrical mask and later a role. |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word “чалавек” (person) likely originates from the Proto-Slavic word *čelověkъ, which could also mean “foreman, servant, slave”. |
| Bengali | In the Sanskrit original, "ব্যক্তি" meant "a man or woman who is present", from the root "vi-kṛt", meaning "to transform", and "jan", meaning "to be born". |
| Bosnian | In Old Church Slavonic, "osoba" meant "mask" or "face". |
| Bulgarian | The word "човек" in Bulgarian is related to the Proto-Slavic word "*čelověkъ" meaning "forehead", which in turn derives from the Proto-Indo-European word "*ḱel-/*ḱl-/*ḱelh-", meaning "to shelter" or "to cover". |
| Catalan | "Persona" derives from Latin and also means "mask" or "character" in Catalan. |
| Cebuano | The Cebuano word "tawo" is a cognate of the Malay "tau" (which has the same meaning) and is believed to be derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "tahaw" meaning "human being." |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 人 (rén) is also used as a generic term for 'people' or 'the public' |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The right component of 人 represents 'two legs', the left component represents 'a vertical pole', hence 'human being'. |
| Corsican | "Persona" (meaning "a character in a play" in English) can also refer to a deceased person who still lives in their relatives' memory. |
| Croatian | In Old Church Slavonic, 'osoba' meant 'mask' or 'role' in a theatre performance. |
| Czech | The word "osoba" in Czech also refers to a mask, as worn by an actor or at a celebration. |
| Danish | Its second meaning refers to the grammatical person, for example in "first person plural", and the word can also be used in the sense of someone's character or qualities |
| Dutch | In Dutch, "persoon" can also refer to a grammatical pronoun or dramatic character. |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "persono" derives from the Latin word "persona", which originally meant an actor's mask. |
| Estonian | "Isik" comes from the Old Estonian word "ise" meaning "self" and is also related to the Finnish "ihminen" meaning "human", both derived from the Proto-Uralic root *-iče "human being" |
| Finnish | The Finnish word "henkilö" (person) also refers to a "character" in a play or "actor" in a movie. |
| French | The word "la personne" comes from the Latin "persona", meaning "mask" or "character". |
| Frisian | The word "persoan" in Frisian, like the English word "persona," originally meant "mask." |
| Galician | In Galician, "persoa" derives from the Latin word "persona", also meaning "mask" or "character" in theatre. |
| German | In German, "Person" has multiple meanings, including "individual" and "character in a play or movie." |
| Greek | The term 'πρόσωπο' in Greek has roots in theater, referring to the actor's mask used to embody a character. |
| Gujarati | "વ્યક્તિ" is ultimately derived from Sanskrit "vi" (to separate) + "kri" (to do). Thus, "person" originally meant something like "the one who separates/divides." It can also mean "individual" "human being" or a "certain person, gentleman, or lady." |
| Haitian Creole | In Haitian Vodou, the word "moun" can also refer to an embodiment of an ancestral spirit that possesses a living person during a ceremony. |
| Hausa | The word "mutum" in Hausa can also refer to a corpse or a ghost. |
| Hawaiian | In Hawaiian, "kanaka" originally meant "common person" and later referred to Polynesian people in general. |
| Hebrew | The word "אדם" can also mean "earth" in Hebrew, derived from the fact that in Biblical tradition, humanity was created from the dust of the earth. |
| Hindi | The word व्यक्त can also mean a specific thing or individual, and in Sanskrit its root word व्यज् means to manifest. |
| Hmong | Tus neeg derives from "tus" (male) and "neej" (female), reflecting the dual nature of humanity. |
| Hungarian | Its word origin suggests that `személy` used to mean 'one who presents himself at a legal trial'. |
| Icelandic | Manneskja can alternatively refer to any kind of person, regardless of sex (karl-man and kona-woman), or the whole of mankind |
| Igbo | The word 'mmadu' can also refer to a specific group or category of people, such as a clan or a family. |
| Indonesian | The Malay, Javanese, and Indonesian word "orang" is also used with the meaning "a being with a body like that of a human being, but of a supernatural character", including angels, devils, and ghosts |
| Irish | In Irish mythology, "duine" also referred to a supernatural being with human form but superhuman powers. |
| Italian | In Italian theatre, "persona" denotes the "mask", while in Latin it referred to the mask and the corresponding dramatic role or "character" |
| Japanese | The 人 (ningen) kanji is often used to emphasize humanity and can be translated as "humankind" or "humanity" |
| Javanese | The Javanese word 'wong' is cognate with 'urang' in Sundanese, 'orang' in Malay, and 'ulun' in Balinese, all meaning 'person'. |
| Kannada | The word 'ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ' ('person') is also used in Kannada to refer to a 'distinct entity' or an 'individual'. |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "адам" can also refer to "mankind" or "humanity". |
| Khmer | The word "មនុស្ស" also means "human being" and is derived from Sanskrit "manuṣya". |
| Korean | The word 사람 can also mean a group of people or a crowd. |
| Kurdish | The word "şexs" derives from the Arabic word "shakhṣ," which also means "form" or "figure". |
| Kyrgyz | The term is also borrowed from Arabic where آدَم ('ādam) "man" ultimately derives from Hebrew Adam "earthling human". |
| Lao | The word "ບຸກຄົນ" ("person") in Lao is derived from the Sanskrit word "पुद्गल" ("body, matter") and can also mean "body" or "self". |
| Latin | The word "hominem" in Latin originally meant "human being", but later came to be used specifically for "man" in contrast to "woman". |
| Latvian | The word "persona" in Latvian shares the same Indo-European root as the word "perceive". |
| Lithuanian | The word "asmuo" (person) in Lithuanian derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂es- "to breathe", hence its original meaning was "a living being". |
| Luxembourgish | Persoun is derived from Latin, with alternate meanings including 'mask' and 'role', reflecting the concept of individuals embodying various personae in society. |
| Macedonian | Macedonian 'лице' is related to the Old-Church Slavonic word 'лице' and Lithuanian 'veidas' and may originally have meant 'appearance' or 'image'. |
| Malagasy | "Olona" can also refer to a human being, a species, or a group of people sharing a common identity. |
| Malay | The word "orang" in Malay can also refer to a "type of person" or a "member of a group." |
| Maltese | The Maltese word "persuna" also means "mask". |
| Maori | The Māori word "tangata" derives from the Proto-Polynesian root "*tangata", which also means "human being" in other Polynesian languages. |
| Marathi | The word "व्यक्ती" in Marathi also means "individual", "character", or "personality" |
| Mongolian | In some dialects, the Mongolian word “хүн” can also refer to the human race, the human species, mankind, the people, and humanity in a more general sense. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The term လူတစ်ယောက် is not only used for a single human individual, but can also refer to an indefinite group or a representative thereof, as can the corresponding word "one" in English. |
| Nepali | व्यक्ति derives from the root 'vis' (to enter), implying a person who has entered into a community or a role. |
| Norwegian | In Norwegian, the word «person» can refer to both an individual and a role or character, such as in a play or film. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word 'munthu' in Nyanja (Chichewa) can also mean 'human being', 'individual', or 'soul'. |
| Pashto | The word "شخص" in Pashto can also refer to a physical body or a particular individual. |
| Persian | Historically “person” (“شخص”) meant “form” (“صورت”) in Persian, leading to the word’s adoption in Islamic mysticism, philosophy, and law with the specific meaning of "legal person" (“حقوقی شخص”). |
| Polish | The Polish word "osoba" derives from the Latin "persona," meaning "mask" or "stage character." |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Brazilian Portuguese, 'pessoa' can also mean 'individual' or 'subject' in a legal or grammatical context. |
| Punjabi | In Sanskrit, the word 'व्यक्ति' (vyakti) means 'manifestation' or 'appearance', and is related to the root word 'विच्' (vic) which means 'to separate'. |
| Romanian | In Romanian, the term "persoană" can also mean "mask" in a theatrical context. |
| Russian | The word "человек" can also mean "human being" or "mankind" depending on the context and inflection. |
| Samoan | The word 'tagata' in Samoan is an umbrella term encompassing humans and gods. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word “duine” in Scots Gaelic is thought to derive from the Gaelic for “man” or “warrior”, but may also mean “noble” or “human being”. |
| Serbian | In Russian, 'особа' can also refer to 'identity', as in 'документ, удостоверяющий личность' ('identity document'). |
| Sesotho | The word 'motho' is used in the singular and can also mean 'a body of people' or 'a nation'. |
| Shona | Munhu can also mean owner, master, or boss in Shona. |
| Sindhi | The word 'شخص' can also refer to the face, appearance, or identity of an individual. |
| Slovak | The Slovak word "osoba" can also refer to a theatrical role or a character in a play or movie. |
| Slovenian | The word 'oseba' is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *osъba, meaning 'essence' or 'nature'. |
| Somali | The word "qof" can also refer to "something" or "anyone" in Somali. |
| Spanish | In Spanish, the word "persona" originally meant "theatrical mask". |
| Sundanese | The word "jelema" in Sundanese can also refer to a "human being" or a "member of a species" |
| Swahili | The word "mtu" in Swahili can also refer to a human being as a member of a group or a community. |
| Swedish | In Swedish, "person" can also refer to a character in a story, the subject of a verb, or a human being. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "tao" also means "human being" and is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "tau" with the same meaning. |
| Tajik | In 13th century Persian, the word shah meant 'king' and was borrowed into Tajik as 'шахс' with the meaning of 'person'. |
| Telugu | The word "వ్యక్తి" ("person") in Telugu can also mean "individual", "self", or "agent" depending on the context. |
| Thai | The Thai word "คน" also means "species" or "group," as in "คนไทย" (the Thai people) or "คนจีน" (the Chinese people). |
| Turkish | Despite being used to designate the concept of 'person' in modern Turkish, the word 'kişi' originally denoted 'slave' or 'servant'. |
| Ukrainian | The word "людина" is derived from the Proto-Slavic "*ljudina", meaning "people" or "tribe". |
| Urdu | The word "شخص" also means "form, figure, shape" in Urdu. |
| Uzbek | In Uzbek, "shaxs" can not only mean "person" but also "individual" and "personality". |
| Vietnamese | The word "người" in Vietnamese can also refer to a character in a play or a statue. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "person" can also mean "face" or "look". |
| Xhosa | "Umntu" also means "humanity" or "human being" in Xhosa. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word 'mentsh' (מענטש) is derived from the German word 'Mensch', which comes from the Latin word 'humanus', meaning 'human' or 'humane' |
| Yoruba | The word "eniyan" (person) in Yoruba is derived from the root word "eni" (life or breath), indicating that a person is a living being. |
| Zulu | The word 'umuntu' in Zulu can also mean 'humanity' or 'character' to describe someone with good qualities. |
| English | Derived from Latin meaning “mask,” “persona” referred to characters played by Roman actors, and also referred to the masks themselves, possibly made from human bones. |