persona

See also: persóna and personā

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin persōna (“mask; character”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from personō (“to sound through”); or from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon, “face; appearance; mask used in ancient theatre to denote a character or, more generally, a social role”); or from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu). Doublet of person and parson.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /pɝˈsoʊnə/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɜː(ɹ)ˈsəʊnə/, /pə(ɹ)ˈsəʊnə/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Hyphenation: per‧so‧na

Noun

persona (plural personas or personae or personæ)

A social role.
A character played by an actor.
(psychology) The mask or appearance one presents to the world.
He keeps his online persona completely separate from his real-world one.
(marketing, user experience) An imaginary person representing a particular type of client or customer, considered when designing products and services that will appeal to them.
- 2014, Ira Kaufman, ‎Chris Horton, Digital Marketing (page 128)
  To do so, your organization should create nuanced buyer personas for all relevant market segments or buyer groups that demonstrate affinity to your brand. These buyer personas should include standard demographic information […]

Descendants

→ Japanese: ペルソナ (perusona)

Translations

social role

Chinese:
Mandarin: 人物 (zh) (rénwù)
French: rôle social m casquette (fr) f (literally “cap”) (informal)
Hindi: व्यक्तित्व (hi) (vyaktitva)
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} ペルソナ (perusona)
Swedish: profil (sv) c framtoning (sv) c
Ukrainian: суспі́льна роль (suspílʹna rolʹ)

character played by an actor

French: personnage (fr) m
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} ペルソナ (perusona)
Macedonian: лик m (lik)
Portuguese: personagem (pt) m or f
Russian: персона́ж (ru) m (personáž)
Serbo-Croatian: ли̑к m, lȋk (sh) m
Spanish: personaje (es) m
Turkish: kişilik (tr)
Ukrainian: персона́ж (uk) (personáž)

the appearance one presents to the world

French: persona (fr) f
German: Persona f
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} ペルソナ (perusona)
Russian: персо́на (ru) f (persóna)
Spanish: personaje (es) m
Swedish: persona (sv) c image (sv) c fasad (sv) c
Turkish: çehre (tr)
Ukrainian: персо́на (persóna)

imaginary person representing a particular type of client or customer

Portuguese: perfil (pt) m

Anagrams

Pearson, Peronas, S'porean, pronase

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin persōna (“person”).

Noun

persona f (plural persones)

person

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin persona.

Pronunciation

(Balearic) IPA^(key): /pəɾˈso.nə/

(Central) IPA^(key): /pərˈso.nə/

(Valencian) IPA^(key): /peɾˈso.na/
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ona

Noun

persona f (plural persones)

person

Derived terms

personificar

Related terms

personal
personatge

Dutch

Etymology

From English persona, ultimately from Latin persōna. Doublet with persoon (“person”).

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

Noun

persona f (plural persona's)

(marketing, user experience) an imaginary person representing a particular type of client or customer, considered when designing products and services that will appeal to them; a persona

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

IPA^(key): [perˈsona]
Rhymes: -ona
Hyphenation: per‧so‧na

Adjective

persona (accusative singular personan, plural personaj, accusative plural personajn)

personal

Finnish

Adjective

persona

essive singular of perso

Indonesian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin persona.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [pərˈsona]
Rhymes: -na, -a
Hyphenation: pêr‧so‧na

Noun

pêrsona

person,
1. an individual; usually a human being.
2. (grammar) a linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom he is speaking.
persona,
1. a social role.
2. the mask or appearance one presents to the world.

Related terms

person
personal
personalia
personalisasi
personel

Interlingua

Noun

persona (plural personas)

person

Italian

Etymology

From Latin persōna (“person”), of Etruscan origin.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /perˈso.na/
Audio (file)
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ona
Hyphenation: per‧só‧na

Noun

persona f (plural persone)

person, pl people, persons
someone, somebody, anybody
Synonyms: qualcuno, nessuno
body, figure
(law) person, body
Synonyms: corpo, personale, aspetto
(psychology) persona

Synonyms

(person (plural)): gente

Related terms

di persona
impersonare
in persona
in prima persona
personaggio
personale
personalità
personificare

Anagrams

serpano, spanerò, sperano, sperona

Ladin

Alternative forms

porsona (Badia)

Etymology

From Latin persōna (“person”).

Noun

persona f (plural persones)

person

Latgalian

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin persona. Cognates include Latvian persona.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈpʲɛ̀rsɔna]
Hyphenation: per‧so‧na

Noun

persona f

person

Declension

Declension of persona (type 4 noun)

	singular	plural
nominative	persona	personys, personas¹⁾
genitive	personys, personas¹⁾	personu
dative	personai	personom
accusative	personu	personys, personas¹⁾
instrumental	personu	personom
locative	personā	personuos
vocative	persona, person	personys, personas¹⁾
¹⁾ dialectal

References

Nicole Nau (2011) A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 27

Latin

Etymology 1

Unknown.Links have been suggested

to Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu) (human figure appearing with a mask), which some have referred to Perseus, some to Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon, “mask, character”);
to personō (“to sound through”), often by Roman writers, but notice short and long o.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /perˈsoː.na/, [pɛrˈs̠oːnä]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /perˈso.na/, [perˈsɔːnä]
Audio (Classical) (file)

Noun

persōna f (genitive persōnae); first declension

mask
character, personage, role
personality, character, individuality
(grammar) person
(Late Latin, Medieval Latin) person
- 6th c. CE, Boethius, Contra Eutychen et Nestorium 4:
  Sed esse Chrīstum manifestē ac vērāciter confitēmur; ūnum igitur esse dīcimus Chrīstum. Quod sī ita est, ūnam quoque Chrīstī sine dubitātiōne persōnam esse necesse est. Nam sī duae persōnae essent, ūnus esse nōn posset; duōs vērō esse dīcere Chrīstōs nihil est aliud nisi praecipitātae mentis īnsānia.
  But we clearly and truly confess profess that Christ exists, and so we say He is one. This being the case, it must follow without doubt that the person of Christ is also one. If there were two persons, then there could not be one, so to say that there are two Christs is nothing but the insanity of distraught mind.
(Medieval Latin) a lord
(Medieval Latin) dignity

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	persōna	persōnae
Genitive	persōnae	persōnārum
Dative	persōnae	persōnīs
Accusative	persōnam	persōnās
Ablative	persōnā	persōnīs
Vocative	persōna	persōnae

Derived terms

persolla
persōnālis

Descendants

Asturian: persona
Italian: persona
Ladin: persona
Ligurian: persónn-a
Old French: persone, parsone, persoun, persoune; presonne
- Middle French: personne
  - French: personne
    - Louisiana Creole French: personne
  - Norman: pèrsonne
- → Middle English: persoun, personne
  - English:
    - parson
    - person
      - Nigerian Pidgin: pesin
Old Occitan: persona
- Catalan: persona
- Occitan: persona
Old Portuguese: pessõa, persõa
- Galician: persoa
- Portuguese: pessoa
Piedmontese: përson-a
Sicilian: pirsuna
→ English: persona
- → Japanese: ペルソナ (perusona)
→ Esperanto: persono
→ Icelandic: persóna
→ Ido: persono
→ Indonesian: persona
→ Interlingua: persona
→ Latgalian: persona
→ Latvian: persona
→ Manx: persoon
→ Middle Dutch: persone
- Dutch: persoon
  - Afrikaans: persoon
  - → Indonesian: person
→ Middle High German: persōn, persōne
- German: Person
- Hunsrik: Person
- Luxembourgish: Persoun
→ Novial: persone
→ Old Irish: persan
- Middle Irish: persa
  - Irish: pearsa
  - Scottish Gaelic: pearsa
→ Polish: persona
→ Romanian: persoană
→ Russian: персо́на (persóna)
→ Spanish: persona
→ Swedish: person
→ Welsh: person

References

“persona”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“persona”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
persona in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
persona in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
“persona”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
“persona”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
Palmer, L.R. (1906) The Latin Language, London, Faber and Faber

Etymology 2

Inflection of the verb personō.

Verb

personā

second-person singular active imperative of personō

Latvian

Etymology

From Latin persōna (“person”).

Noun

persona f (4th declension)

person
individual
character

Declension

Declension of persona (4th declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	persona	personas
accusative (akuzatīvs)	personu	personas
genitive (ģenitīvs)	personas	personu
dative (datīvs)	personai	personām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	personu	personām
locative (lokatīvs)	personā	personās
vocative (vokatīvs)	persona	personas

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan persona, from Latin persona.

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

Noun

persona f (plural personas)

person

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin persōna.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /pɛrˈsɔ.na/
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ɔna
Syllabification: per‧so‧na

Noun

persona f

(obsolete) person
(ironically) personage (famous or important person)

Declension

Declension of persona

	singular	plural
nominative	persona	persony
genitive	persony	person
dative	personie	personom
accusative	personę	persony
instrumental	personą	personami
locative	personie	personach
vocative	persono	persony

Related terms

adjective

personalny

adverb

personalnie

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin persōna (“person”)[1].

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /peɾˈsona/ [peɾˈso.na]
Audio (Colombia) (file)
Rhymes: -ona
Syllabification: per‧so‧na

Noun

persona f (plural personas)

person (an individual; usually a human being)
Synonym: individuo

Derived terms

antipersona
apersonarse
buscapersonas
en persona
interpósita persona
persona de muchos oficios
persona física
persona jurídica
personarse
primera persona
segunda persona
tercera persona
trata de personas

Related terms

personal

Verb

persona

only used in se persona, third-person singular present indicative of personarse

only used in te ... persona, syntactic variant of persónate, second-person singular imperative of personarse

References

Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1983–1991) Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

persona

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Descendants

Translations

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

Asturian

Etymology

Noun

Catalan

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

Dutch

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Adjective

Finnish

Adjective

Indonesian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Related terms

Further reading

Interlingua

Noun

See also

Italian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Synonyms

Related terms

Anagrams

Ladin

Alternative forms

Etymology

Noun

Latgalian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

References

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Etymology 2

Verb

Latvian

Etymology

Noun

Declension

Occitan

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Polish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Related terms

Further reading