personage

Contents

English

Etymology

From Middle French personnage, from Old French personage

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹsn̩ɨdʒ/, /ˈpɝsənɨdʒ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɜːsənɨdʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

personage (plural personages)

1. A famous or important person.
   • 1872, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], The Poet at the Breakfast-Table, page 230:

     I can only say they have been in pretty close conversation several times of late, and, if I dared to think it of so very calm and dignified a personage, I should say that her color was a little heightened after one or more of these interviews.

2. The creation of corporate persons named after living people.

Usage notes

• (a famous or important person): In modern use, the noun personage is typically used with a partially redundant adjective, such as "notable" or "great"; as such, it may fairly be said to mean simply "person".

Translations

a famous or important person

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人物 (zh) (rénwù)

  Min Nan: 人物 (zh-min-nan) (jîn-bu̍t)

• Dutch: personage (nl)
• French: personnage (fr) m
• Georgian: პერსონაჟი (ṗersonaži), პიროვნება (ṗirovneba)
• German: Persönlichkeit (de) f

• Japanese: 人物 (ja) (じんぶつ, jinbutsu)
• Manx: ard-phersoon m
• Norwegian: personasje m
• Portuguese: personalidade (pt) f
• Russian: персона́ж (ru) m (personáž), ли́чность (ru) f (líčnostʹ)
• Spanish: personaje (es) m

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French personnage.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Hyphenation: per‧so‧na‧ge

Noun

personage n (plural personages)

1. Character in a work of fiction.

   Iago is een personage in Shakespeares Othello.

   Iago is a character in Shakespeare's Othello.