persona

See also: persóna and personā

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɝˈsoʊnə/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɜːˈsəʊnə/, /pəˈsəʊnə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: per‧so‧na
• Rhymes: -əʊnə

Noun

persona (plural personas or personae or personæ)

1. A social role.
2. A character played by an actor.
3. (psychology) The mask or appearance one presents to the world.

   He keeps his online persona completely separate from his real-world one.

4. (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 […]

Derived terms

• fursona
• worksona

Related terms

• dramatis persona
• in propria persona
• persona grata
• persona muta
• persona non grata

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)
• Hungarian: társadalmi/szociális szerep
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} ペルソナ (ja) (perusona)
• Swedish: profil (sv) c framtoning (sv) c
• Ukrainian: суспі́льна роль (suspílʹna rolʹ)

character played by an actor

• French: personnage (fr) m
• Hindi: चरित्र (hi) m (caritra), पात्र (hi) m (pātra)
• Hungarian: szerep (hu), szereplő (hu)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} ペルソナ (ja) (perusona)
• Macedonian: лик (mk) 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
• Hungarian: perszóna (hu), személyiség (hu)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} ペルソナ (ja) (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

See also

• alter ego
• moniker

Further reading

• persona on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Persona (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Alter ego on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Pearson, Peronas, S'porean, pronase

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin persōna (“person”).

Noun

persona f (plural persones)

1. person

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin persona.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pərˈso.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [peɾˈso.na]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ona

Noun

persona f (plural persones)

1. person

Derived terms

• personificar

Related terms

• personal
• personatge

Further reading

• “persona”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
• “persona”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “persona” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “persona” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

persona f (plural persona's)

1. (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)

1. personal

Finnish

Adjective

persona

1. essive singular of perso

Indonesian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin persōna. Doublet of person.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

pêrsona

1. 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
2. persona,
   1. a social role
   2. the mask or appearance one presents to the world

Derived terms

• pronomina persona

Related terms

• person
• personal
• personalia
• personalisasi
• personalitas
• personel

Further reading

• “persona” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Interlingua

Noun

persona (plural personas)

1. person

See also

• gente
• populo

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)

1. person, pl people, persons
2. someone, somebody, anybody

   Synonyms: qualcuno, nessuno

3. body, figure
4. (law) person, body

   Synonyms: corpo, personale, aspetto

5. (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 (Fascian)

Etymology

From Latin persōna (“person”).

Noun

persona f (plural persones)

1. person

Ladino

Alternative forms

• presona

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish persona, from Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan *𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (*φersu, “mask”), from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon).

Noun

persona f (Hebrew spelling פירסונה)

1. person (individual)
   • 1979, Kamelia Shahar, “La verdadera felisidad”, in Aki Yerushalayim, number 1, page 6:

     Sus madre viendolos tristes i abatidos les disho: Mis ijos, basta de kreyer solo en la rikeza. La persona verderamente oroza es la ke se kontenta kon lo ke le dio el Dió.

     Their mother, seeing them sad and humbled, said to them: My children, stop believing only in wealth. The person who is truly happy is the one who is content with what God has given them.

Related terms

• personaje
• personal
• personalidad
• personalmente
• personel
• personifikar

Latgalian

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin persona. Cognates include Latvian persona.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

persona f

1. 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. Two 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 Latin) IPA^(key): [pɛrˈsoː.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [perˈsɔː.na]

Noun

persōna f (genitive persōnae); first declension

1. mask
2. character, personage, role
3. personality, character, individuality
4. (grammar) person
5. (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.

6. (Medieval Latin) a lord
7. (Medieval Latin) dignity

Declension

First-declension noun.

	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
• Catalan: persona
• Italian: persona
• Ladin: persona
• Ligurian: persónn-a
• Old French: persone, parsone, persoun, persoune, presonne
  • Middle French: personne
    • French: personne
      • Louisiana Creole: personne
    • Norman: pèrsonne
  • → Middle English: persoun, personne
    • English:
      • parson
      • person
        • Nigerian Pidgin: pesin
    • → Middle Welsh: person
      • Welsh: person
• Old Occitan: persona
  • Occitan: persona
• Old Galician-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
  • Yiddish: פּאַרשוין (parshoyn), פּערזאָן (perzon)
• → 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

1. second-person singular active imperative of personō

Latvian

Etymology

From Latin persōna (“person”).

Noun

persona f (4th declension)

1. person
2. individual
3. character

Declension

Declension of persona (4th declension)

	singular	plural
nominative	persona	personas
genitive	personas	personu
dative	personai	personām
accusative	personu	personas
instrumental	personu	personām
locative	personā	personās
vocative	persona	personas

Lombard

Alternative forms

• personna (Western orthographies)
• persuna (Eastern phonetic orthographies)

Etymology

From Latin persōna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /perˈsoːna/
  • IPA^(key): [pe̞rˈsuːnɑ]
  • IPA^(key): [pe̞rˈhuːnɑ] (Prealpine)
  • IPA^(key): [pärˈtsoːnä] (Ticinese)
  • IPA^(key): [pe̞rˈsu(ː)ŋä] (Western varieties)

Noun

persona f (plural persone)

1. person

Occitan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Occitan persona, from Latin persōna.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

persona f (plural personas)

1. person

Old Galician-Portuguese

Noun

persona

1. alternative form of pessõa

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “persona”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Old Occitan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan *𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (*φersu, “mask”), from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon).

Noun

persona

1. person (individual)

Descendants

• Occitan: persona

References

• “persona”, in Dictionnaire de l’occitan médiéval en ligne (in German and French), Munich: LMU, 2013–2025

Old Spanish

Alternative forms

• presona

Etymology

Inherited from Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan *𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (*φersu, “mask”), from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon).

Noun

persona f (plural personas)

1. person (individual)

Descendants

• Ladino: persona, פירסונה
• Spanish: persona

References

• Ralph Steele Boggs et al. (1946) “persona”, in Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, volume II, Chapel Hill, page 392

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin persōna. Doublet of personat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛrˈsɔ.na/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔna
• Syllabification: per‧so‧na

Noun

persona f

1. (literary) person (individual substance of a rational nature; usually a human being)

   Synonym: osoba

2. (ironic) 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

Further reading

• persona in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• persona in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peɾˈsona/ [peɾˈso.na]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ona
• Syllabification: per‧so‧na

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin persōna (“person”).

Noun

persona f (plural personas)

1. person (an individual; usually a human being)

   Synonym: individuo

2. a socially distinguished person, a personality
3. a wise or otherwise excellent person
4. a character (an individual with a specific role in a literary work)

Usage notes

• This noun does not change; even when addressing males.

Derived terms

• acepción de personas
• antipersona
• apersonarse
• buscapersonas
• de persona a persona
• en persona
• interpósita persona
• persona altamente sensible
• persona de muchos oficios
• persona física
• persona jurídica
• persona no grata
• persona non grata
• personarse
• personería
• por su persona
• primera persona
• segunda persona
• tercera persona
• trata de personas

Related terms

• personaje
• personal
• personificación

Etymology 2

Verb

persona

1. only used in se persona, third-person singular present indicative of personarse
2. only used in te ... persona, syntactic variant of persónate, second-person singular imperative of personarse

Further reading

• “persona”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10