personal
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English personal, personele, from Anglo-Norman personel, personal, personell, Old French personal, personel, from Late Latin persōnālis (“of a person, personly”), equivalent to person + -al. Doublet of personnel.
Pronunciation
Adjective
personal (comparative more personal, superlative most personal)
- Pertaining to persons (human beings as opposed to things or animals).
- Of or pertaining to a particular person; relating to, or affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals
- personal values; personal desire
- Her song was her personal look at the values of friendship.
- 2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, , pages 219–257:
- Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film.
- 2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, →ISBN, page 192:
- You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.
- Dealing with subjects about which one wishes (or people usually wish) to maintain privacy or discretion; not for public view; sensitive, intimate.
- personal reasons
- You can't read my diary—it is personal.
- That's a very personal question.
- I can't believe you went through my drawers and looked at all my personal things!
- (euphemistic) Intended for sexual use.
- personal lubricant; personal massager
- Pertaining to the external or bodily appearance; corporeal; bodily.
- personal charms
- 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
- The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
- Done in person; without an intermediary.
- a personal interview
- a personal meeting
- personal settings
- 2011, Bob Nelson, Peter Economy, Consulting For Dummies:
- Although you miss the nonverbal cues that you pick up in a personal meeting, you can call far more clients in a day than you can meet with in person.
- Relating to an individual, their character, conduct, motives, or private affairs, in an invidious and offensive manner
- personal reflections or remarks
- (grammar) Of a noun or pronoun, having reference particular to humans and other entities having personality such as a named animal, a deity, a personification, etc.
- (grammar) Related to grammatical first, second, etc. persons.
- Denoting ownership.
- one's personal vehicle, as opposed to a company vehicle
Usage notes
- Not to be confused with personnel (“employees, staff”).
Derived terms
- antipersonal
- bipersonal
- depersonalize, depersonalization
- extrapersonal
- first-personal
- hyperpersonal
- impersonal
- interpersonal
- intrapersonal
- monopersonal
- multipersonal
- nonpersonal
- nothing personal
- overpersonalize
- peripersonal
- personal ad, personal advertisement
- personal area network
- personal assistant
- personal attack, personal attacker
- personal best
- personal brand
- personal capital
- personal column
- personal computer
- personal conduct
- personal covenant
- personal crisis
- personal data
- personal dative
- personal day
- personal defence weapon, personal defence, personal defense weapon
- personal development
- personal digital assistant
- personal effect
- personal equation, absolute p.e.
- personal estate
- personal exception
- personal fiduciary
- personal finance
- personal flotation device
- personal foul
- personal god
- personal goddess
- personal hell
- personal hygiene
- personal identification number
- personal identity
- personal injury
- personalise, personalize
- personalism
- personalist
- personalistic
- personal jurisdiction
- personal law
- personal ledger
- personal life
- personal location beacon, personal location radiobeacon
- personal locator beacon, personal locator radio-beacon
- personal lubricant
- personally
- personal message
- personal mobility device
- personal name
- personal navigant
- personalness
- personal online desktop
- personal ordinariate
- personal organizer
- personal pension
- personal pronoun
- personal property, personal property tax
- personal protective equipment, personal protector
- personal record
- personal rule
- personal security
- personal service
- personal shopper, personal shopping
- Personal Social Health Education
- personal space
- personal stereo
- personal time
- personal trainer, personal training
- personal transaction
- personal transporter
- personalty
- personal union
- personal video recorder
- personal water craft
- personalzine
- polypersonal
- prepersonal
- profersonal
- subpersonal
- superpersonal
- suprapersonal
- telepersonals
- third-personal
- transpersonal
- tripersonal
- ultrapersonal
- unipersonal
- unpersonal
- up close and personal
Related terms
Translations
pertaining to human beings
of or pertaining to a particular person
|
dealing with subjects about which one wishes to maintain privacy or discretion
euphemistic: intended for sexual use
|
pertaining to the external or bodily appearance
done in person
relating to an individual in an invidious and offensive manner
|
grammar: denoting person
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
personal (plural personals)
- (chiefly in the plural) An advertisement by which an individual attempts to meet others with similar interests.
- One's own property or asset
- 1748, Tobias Smollett (translator), Alain-René Lesage (original), The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane
- In addition to this, a coarse shirt quite new, a pair of my father's shoes quite old, and, what rejoiced me more than all the rest, a rouleau of twenty rials in a linen rag. Behold the sum total of my personals.
- 1982 April 10, Roosevelt Williamson, “Prison Racism and Legal Slavery in America”, in Gay Community News, page 15:
- I've had my cell ransacked, savagely searched, and as a result, had my legal papers stolen and destroyed, allong with what little personal clothing and other personals I had.
- 1748, Tobias Smollett (translator), Alain-René Lesage (original), The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane
Translations
advertisement
|
property, asset
|
Further reading
- “personal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin persōnālis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
personal m or f (masculine and feminine plural personals)
- personal
- Antonym: impersonal
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “personal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “personal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
- “personal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “personal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Cebuano
Etymology
Borrowed from English personal, from Middle English personal, personele, from Anglo-Norman personel, personal, personell, Old French personal, personel, from Late Latin persōnālis (“of a person, personly”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
personal
- of or pertaining to a particular person; relating to, or affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals; peculiar or proper to private concerns; not public or general
Quotations
For quotations using this term, see Citations:personal.
German
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin persōnālis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
personal (strong nominative masculine singular personaler, not comparable)
Declension
Positive forms of personal (uncomparable)
Further reading
Indonesian
Etymology
From English personal, from Middle English personal, personele, from Anglo-Norman personel, personal, personell, Old French personal, personel, from Late Latin persōnālis (“of a person, personly”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
pêrsonal
Related terms
Further reading
- “personal” 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
Adjective
personal (comparative plus personal, superlative le plus personal)
Noun
personal (uncountable)
Ladin
Adjective
personal m (feminine singular personala, masculine plural personai, feminine plural personales)
Portuguese
Etymology
Pseudo-anglicism, derived from personal trainer.
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: per‧so‧nal
Noun
personal m or f by sense (plural personais)
- (Brazil, informal) personal trainer
- Synonyms: PT, personal trainer
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin personalis or German personell or Italian personale or French personnel. By surface analysis, persoană + -al.
Pronunciation
Adjective
personal m or n (feminine singular personală, masculine plural personali, feminine and neuter plural personale)
Declension
| singular | plural | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
| nominative- accusative | indefinite | personal | personală | personali | personale | |||
| definite | personalul | personala | personalii | personalele | ||||
| genitive- dative | indefinite | personal | personale | personali | personale | |||
| definite | personalului | personalei | personalilor | personalelor | ||||
Antonyms
Derived terms
Adverb
personal
Noun
personal n (plural personale)
- (collective) staff, members of staff, personnel
- (countable) Short for tren personal (“stopping train”).
Declension
Further reading
- personal in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin persōnālis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
personal m or f (masculine and feminine plural personales)
- personal
- Antonym: impersonal
Derived terms
Noun
personal m (plural personales)
Noun
personal m (uncountable)
- (informal) folks, people, mob, crowd; the masses
- 1993 April 23, Francisco Umbral, “Queremos saber”, in Antena 3:
- Yo he venido aquí a hablar de mi libro; y no a hablar de lo que opine el personal, que me da lo mismo, porque para eso tengo mi columna y mi opinión diaria.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “personal”, 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
Swedish
Pronunciation
Noun
personal c
- staff (employees of a business)
- Synonym: arbetskraft
Declension
| nominative | genitive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | indefinite | personal | personals |
| definite | personalen | personalens | |
| plural | indefinite | personaler | personalers |
| definite | personalerna | personalernas |
Derived terms
- ambassadpersonal
- ambulanspersonal
- apotekspersonal
- butikspersonal
- civilpersonal
- dagispersonal
- dagpersonal
- däckspersonal
- ekonomipersonal
- extrapersonal
- fyrpersonal
- hemtjänstpersonal
- hotellpersonal
- kabinpersonal
- kanslipersonal
- kassapersonal
- kringpersonal
- kökspersonal
- markpersonal
- omsorgspersonal
- personaladministration
- personaladministratör
- personalansvar
- personalansvarig
- personalansvarsnämnd
- personalavdelning
- personalbostad
- personalbrist
- personalchef
- personaldator
- personaldirektör
- personalfest
- personalföreträdare
- personalförstärkning
- personalförsörjning
- personalförteckning
- personalgrupp
- personalingång
- personalinskränkning
- personalintendent
- personalintensiv
- personalkategori
- personalkonferens
- personalkonsulent
- personalkostnad
- personalkrävande
- personalliggare
- personalläkare
- personalmatsal
- personalminskning
- personalmöte
- personalneddragning
- personalnedskärning
- personalnämnd
- personalomsättning
- personaloption
- personalorganisation
- personalplanering
- personalpolitik
- personalpolitisk
- personalpool
- personalproblem
- personalrekrytering
- personalrepresentant
- personalrestaurang
- personalresurs
- personalrum
- personalsekreterare
- personalsidan
- personalsituation
- personalstyrka
- personaltidning
- personaltoalett
- personaltäthet
- personalunion
- personalutbildning
- personaluthyrning
- personalutrymme
- personalutskott
- personalutveckling
- personalvård
- personalvårdsnämnd
- personalärende
- personalökning
- restaurangpersonal
- räddningspersonal
- serveringspersonal
- servicepersonal
- sjukhuspersonal
- sjukvårdspersonal
- skolpersonal
- stampersonal
- städpersonal
- säkerhetspersonal
- tullpersonal
- tågpersonal
- vakpersonal
- vaktpersonal
- vårdpersonal
Further reading
Anagrams
Tagalog
Etymology
Each pronunciation has a different source:
Pronunciation
- (Standard Tagalog)
- Syllabification: per‧so‧nal
Adjective
personál or pérsonál (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜒᜇ᜔ᜐᜓᜈᜎ᜔)
Derived terms
- mamersonal
- pamemersonal
- personalan
- personalin
Further reading
- “personal”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.