personality

English

Etymology

Coined between 1350 and 1400 as Middle English personalite, from Middle French [Term?], from Latin persōnālitās.

Morphologically personal +‎ -ity

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɜːsəˈnælətɪ/, /-i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpɝsəˈnælɪti/, [ˌpɝsəˈnælɪɾi]

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

personality (countable and uncountable, plural personalities)

1. (of people) A set of non-physical psychological and social qualities that make one person distinct from another.
   • c. 1828, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on Field on the Church

     Personality is individuality existing in itself, but with a nature as a ground.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.

   The president has a unique personality.

2. (of people) Charisma, or qualities that make a person stand out from the crowd.
   • 1959, Lloyd Price, Personality:

     But over and over / I´ll be a fool for you / 'cause you got personality.

   The best contestant shows most personality.

3. (of inanimate or abstract things) A set of qualities that make something distinctive or interesting.

   His writing has a lot of personality.

   This functional concrete building lacks personality.

   • 2017, Janet Fletcher, Cheese & Beer, page 35:

     Dubbels typically have a rich, complex, malt-centered personality and a copper or caramel color.

4. An assumed role or manner of behavior.

   In his final act, the comedian takes on a child's personality.

5. A celebrity, especially one with a strong media presence.

   Johnny Carson was a respected television personality.

6. (archaic) Something said or written which refers to the person, conduct, etc., of some individual, especially something of a disparaging or offensive nature; personal remarks.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 11, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Sharp personalities were exchanged.

   • 1905, O. Henry, Telemachus, Friend:

     Perceiving that personalities were not out of order, I asked him what species of beast had long ago twisted and mutilated his left ear.

   indulgence in personalities

7. (law) That quality of a law which concerns the condition, state, and capacity of persons

Synonyms

• selfness

Derived terms

• addictive personality
• antisocial personality disorder
• avoidant personality disorder
• borderline personality disorder
• cult of personality
• dependent personality disorder
• histrionic personality disorder
• multipersonality
• multiple personality
• multiple personality disorder
• narcissistic personality disorder
• nonpersonality
• paranoid personality disorder
• personality clash
• personality cult
• personality disorder
• personalityless
• personalitylike
• personalitywise
• sadistic personality disorder
• schizoid personality disorder
• split personality
• strong personality
• subpersonality
• television personality
• tripersonality

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: パーソナリティ (pāsonariti)

Translations

set of qualities that make a person distinct from other people

• Arabic: شَخْصِيَّة‎ (ar) f (šaḵṣiyya)
• Armenian: անհատականություն (hy) (anhatakanutʿyun)
• Bulgarian: индивидуалност (bg) f (individualnost)
• Catalan: personalitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 性格 (zh) (xìnggé), 個性／个性 (zh) (gèxìng)

• Cornish: personoleth f
• Czech: osobnost (cs) f
• Danish: personlighed c
• Dutch: persoonlijkheid (nl) f
• Finnish: luonne (fi), persoonallisuus (fi)
• French: personnalité (fr) f
• Galician: personalidade (gl) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Persönlichkeit (de) f
• Greek: προσωπικότητα (el) f (prosopikótita)
• Hebrew: אִישִׁיּוּת‎ (he) f (ishiyút)
• Hindi: व्यक्तित्व (hi) m (vyaktitva)
• Hungarian: egyéniség (hu)
• Icelandic: persónuleiki (is) m
• Indonesian: kepribadian (id), personalitas (id)
• Irish: tréithe pearsanta f pl
• Italian: personalità (it) f
• Japanese: 人格 (ja) (じんかく, jinkaku), 性格 (ja) (せいかく, seikaku)
• Khmer: ឫកពា (rœ̆kâpéa), ឫក (km) (rœ̆kâ)
• Korean: 인격(人格) (ko) (in'gyeok)
• Kyrgyz: кишилик (kişilik)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: indolēs f
• Latvian: personība f
• Macedonian: ли́чност f (líčnost)
• Maori: tuakiri, haukiri, ihokiri
• Marathi: व्यक्तिमत्व (mr) n (vyaktimatva)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: व्यक्तित्व (vyaktitwa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: personlighet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: personlegdom m

• Polish: osobowość (pl) f
• Portuguese: personalidade (pt) f
• Romanian: personalitate (ro) f
• Russian: ли́чность (ru) f (líčnostʹ), индивидуа́льность (ru) f (individuálʹnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: pearsantachd f
• Serbo-Croatian: ličnost (sh) f
• Slovene: osébnost (sl) f
• Spanish: personalidad (es) f
• Swedish: personlighet (sv) c
• Tamil: ஆளுமை (ta) (āḷumai)
• Thai: บุคลิกภาพ (th) (bùk-ká-lík-gà-pâap)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: kişilik (tr), şahsiyet (tr)
• Ukrainian: особи́стість f (osobýstistʹ), індивідуа́льність f (indyviduálʹnistʹ)
• Vietnamese: tính cách (vi) (性格)
• Welsh: personoliaeth (cy) f
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

assumed role or manner of behavior

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 性氣／性气 (zh) (xìngqì)

• Czech: osobnost (cs) f
• Danish: skikkelse c
• Finnish: luonne (fi)
• Galician: personalidade (gl) f
• Greek: προσωπικότητα (el) f (prosopikótita)
• Hungarian: személyiség (hu)
• Macedonian: ли́чност f (líčnost), ка́рактер m (kárakter)
• Portuguese: personalidade (pt) f
• Romanian: personalitate (ro) f
• Russian: ли́чность (ru) f (líčnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: pearsantachd f
• Slovene: osébnost (sl) f
• Ukrainian: особи́стість f (osobýstistʹ)

celebrity

• Belarusian: дзе́яч m (dzjéjač)
• Bulgarian: известна личност f (izvestna ličnost)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 名人 (zh) (míngrén)

• Czech: osobnost (cs) f
• Danish: personlighed c
• Finnish: henkilö (fi)
• Galician: persoeiro m
• German: Persönlichkeit (de) f
• Greek: προσωπικότητα (el) f (prosopikótita)
• Hebrew: אִישִׁיּוּת‎ (he) f (ishiyút)
• Hungarian: személyiség (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: personlighet (no) m or f

• Portuguese: personalidade (pt) f
• Romanian: personalitate (ro) f
• Russian: ли́чность (ru) f (líčnostʹ), осо́ба (ru) f (osóba)

charisma

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 豐韻／丰韵 (zh) (fēngyùn)

• Czech: osobnost (cs) f
• Danish: personlighed c, karisma c
• Finnish: persoonallisuus (fi)
• Greek: προσωπικότητα (el) f (prosopikótita)
• Hungarian: karizma (hu)
• Macedonian: хари́зма f (harízma)
• Portuguese: personalidade (pt) f
• Russian: ли́чные ка́чества n pl (líčnyje káčestva), хари́зма (ru) f (xarízma)

something said or written which refers to the person of some individual

• Bulgarian: нападки (bg) f pl (napadki)
• Finnish: henkilökohtaisuus (fi)

law: quality of law

• Thai: สภาพบุคคล (sà-pâap-bùk-kon)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} persoonlijkheid (nl)
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} მეობა (meoba), ^{(please verify)} პიროვნება (ṗirovneba)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} kepribadian (id)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} వ్యక్తిత్వము (te) (vyaktitvamu)

Further reading

• "personality" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 232.

Anagrams

• antileprosy, ponytailers