Word Confusion: Person versus Persona

Posted October 8, 2024 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

I was reading along, singing along . . . um, no, not really. What really happened was that persona popped up in a story, and I was intrigued, wondering just what is the difference in this word confusion of person versus persona?

It turns out that a person is an individual.

A persona is a role that an individual plays.

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Exploring Later . . .

You may want to explore “Personal versus Personnel” and/or “People versus Persons“.

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Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Person	Persona
A Solitary Person is in the public domain, via PxHere.	Up Up and Away by JF Willis is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr. — Superman is a persona adopted by Clark Kent, who is himself a persona.
Part of Grammar:
Combining form as -person Noun Plural for the noun: people (common context), persons (legal, formal contexts)	Noun Plural: personas, personae
Combining form: Used as a neutral alternative to -man in nouns denoting professional status, a position of authority, etc. Noun: A human being regarded as an individual Used in legal or formal contexts to refer to an unspecified individual [With modifier] An individual characterized by a preference or liking for a specified thing A character in a play or story An individual’s body [in person] Actually present Without the help or intervention of others [Grammar] A category used in the classification of pronouns, possessive determiners, and verb forms, according to whether they indicate the speaker (first person), the addressee (second person), or a third party (third person) [Christian theology] Each of the three modes of being of God, namely the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, who together constitute the Trinity	Noun: The aspect of someone’s character that is presented to or perceived by others A role or character adopted by an author, actor, etc., or in a game [Psychoanalysis (in Jungian psychology); often contrasted with anima] The mechanism that conceals a person’s true thoughts and feelings, especially in his adaptation to the outside world
Examples:
Combining form: Who’s the chairperson on this committee? I need a salesperson. Now. It’s waitperson now. Not waiter, not waitress. Noun: They searched the prisoner’s person. She applied for the job in person. Well, in her person, I say I will not have you. He was considered a person of importance. He found the guns hidden on his person. The author will be there in person. No unauthorized persons may enter the building. There was too much for one person to do. Stop talking about yourself in the third person. The Holy Trinity consists of the First Person, the Father, the Second Person, the Son, and the Third Person, the Holy Ghost.	Noun: Her public persona has been sold to millions of women as the ideal. Chris adds that his media persona does not match reality. His screen persona occasionally grates. Bowie burned through one persona after another. The real-world figure didn’t quite match up to his muscle-bound, weapon-clad online persona. Persona and anima switch roles and merge in slow, smooth ways.
Derivatives:
Adjective: person-to-person, personable, personal, personalistic Adverb: person-to-person, personably, personally Noun: personable, personableness, personage, personalism, personalist, personalization, personhood Verb, transitive: personalize, personate
History of the Word:
Middle English from the Old French persone, from the Latin persona meaning actor’s mask, character in a play, later human being.	Mid-18th century Latin, literally mask, character played by an actor.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Building Your Website, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Marketing Help & Resources, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, and/or Writing Ideas and Resources.

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Resources for Person versus Persona

Some of these links may be affiliate links, and I will earn a small percentage, if you should buy it. It does not affect the price you pay.

Apple Dictionary.com

The Free Dictionary: person

“People, Persons.” GrammarBook.com. n.d. Web. 2 June 2020. <https://www.grammarbook.com/homonyms/people-persons.asp>.

Traffis, Catherine. “Persons vs. People vs. Peoples — What’s the Difference?” Grammarly. n.d. Web. 2 June 2020. <https://www.grammarly.com/blog/persons-people-peoples>.

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