different between creature vs person
creature
English
Alternative forms
- creäture (archaic, chiefly literary and philosophy)
Etymology
From Middle English creature in the original sense of “a created thing”, borrowed via Old French creature, criature, from Latin cre?t?ra, from cre?. Displaced native Old English ?es?eaft. Doublet of craythur and critter.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kr?'ch?, IPA(key): /?k?i?t???/
- (General American) enPR: kr?'ch?r, IPA(key): /?k?i?t????/
- (archaic) enPR: kr?.??tyo?or, IPA(key): /k?i??e?tj??/
- Rhymes: -i?t??(?)
Noun
creature (plural creatures)
- A living being; an animal.
- 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds
- But what would be the sentiment of uppertendom, when it should be rumored that the beautiful young creature, of the proud Clarence Delwood's choice, had stooped so low, as to maintain herself by her own hands?
- 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds
- (sometimes derogatory) A human.
- (now rare, religion) A created thing, whether animate or inanimate; a creation.
- 1633, John Donne, "Sapho to Philænis":
- Thoughts, my mindes creatures, often are with thee, / But I, their maker, want their libertie.
- 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.10:
- the natural truth of God is an artificial erection of Man, and the Creator himself but a subtile invention of the Creature.
- 1633, John Donne, "Sapho to Philænis":
- A being subservient to or dependent upon another.
- 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 240:
- they, too, despite the appearance of being creatures rather than creators of the Union, could assert the prior sovereignty of their states, for each had formed a state constitution […] before petitioning Congress for admission to the Union.
- 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry for Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 240:
Usage notes
- For an explanation of the specialised use of the alternative spelling creäture, see its entry's usage notes.
- Adjectives often applied to "creature": evil, living, little, mythical, poor, strange, beautiful, wild, rational, marine, social, legendary, good, mysterious, curious, magical, dangerous, mythological, bizarre, monstrous, unhappy, huge, lowly, ugly, happy, unique, odd, weird, demonic, divine, imaginary, hideous, fabulous, nocturnal, angelic, political.
Hyponyms
- See also Thesaurus:creature
Derived terms
- creatural
- creature comfort
- (from dialectal forms) critter, creetur, cratur, craythur
Related terms
Translations
References
- creature in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- creature in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- ecarteur
Italian
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ure
Noun
creature f
- plural of creatura
Latin
Participle
cre?t?re
- vocative masculine singular of cre?t?rus
Middle Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cre?t?ra.
Noun
creature f
- creature, being
Inflection
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Descendants
- Dutch: creatuur
Further reading
- “creature”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “creature”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old French criature, creature, from Latin cre?t?ra; equivalent to createn +? -ure.
Alternative forms
- creatur, creatour, creatoure, creater, creture, crature, cryature, criature
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kr??a??tiu?r/, /kr??a?tiu?r/, /kr??a?tu?r/
- (reduced second syllable) IPA(key): /kr???tiu?r/, /?kr???tiu?r/, /?kr??tur/
- (accented second syllable) IPA(key): /kr??a?tiu?r/, /?kra?tiu?r/
Noun
creature (plural creatures)
- Something that has been created; an entity or object.
- A living being or creature; an animal or beast.
- A human being (often as a term of self-abasement).
- (rare) The whole world, the totality of existence.
- (rare) The process of making or creation.
Descendants
- English: creature; critter; craytur
- Scots: creature, crayter
References
- “cr??t?re, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-18.
Etymology 2
Noun
creature
- Alternative form of creatour
Old French
Etymology
Late Latin cre?t?ra.
Noun
creature f (oblique plural creatures, nominative singular creature, nominative plural creatures)
- creature; being; entity
Descendants
- Middle English: creature
- French: créature
creature From the web:
- what creature is yoda
- what creature is maleficent
- what creature is the grinch
- what creature lives the longest
- what creatures live in the mariana trench
- what creature has the shortest lifespan
- what creature is godzilla
- what creature is baby yoda
person
English
Etymology
From Middle English persoun, personne et al., from Anglo-Norman parsone, persoun et al. (Old French persone (“human being”), French personne), and its source Latin pers?na (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan ???????????????????? (?ersu, “mask”). Displaced native wight (from Old English wiht (“person, human being”)). Doublet of parson and persona.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?p??s?n/, [?p???sn?]
- (General American) enPR: pûr?sn, pûr?s?n, IPA(key): /?p?s?n/, [?p??sn?]
- Rhymes: -??(?)s?n
- Hyphenation: per?son
Noun
person (plural persons or (by suppletion) people)
- An individual; usually a human being. [from 13th c.]
- 1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE
- THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
- A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.
- his first appearance upon the stage in his new person of a sycophant or juggler
- 1673, Jeremy Taylor, Heniaytos: A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year […]
- No man can long put on a person and act a part.
- 1664, Robert South, Of the Love of Christ to his Disciples
- How different […] is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate, and […] that of a friend!
- (Christianity) Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
- 1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie
- three persons and one God
- 1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie
- (chiefly in science fiction) Any sentient or socially intelligent being.
- (in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing). [from 20th c.]
- 1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE
- The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc. [from 14th c.]
- 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
- The Captain, inclining his military person, sat sideways to be closer and kinder […].
- 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), page 418:
- At first blush it seemed that what was striking about him rested on the fact that his dress was exotic, his person foreign.
- 2004, The New York Times:
- Meanwhile, the dazed Sullivan, dressed like a bum with no identification on his person, is arrested and put to work on a brutal Southern chain gang.
- 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
- (law) Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts. [from 14th c.]
- (law) The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
- 1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4:
- [E]very Person wilfully, openly, lewdly, and obscenely exposing his Person in any Street, Road, or public Highway, or in the View thereof, or in any Place of public Resort, with Intent to insult any Female ... and being subsequently convicted of the Offence for which he or she shall have been so apprehended, shall be deemed a Rogue and Vagabond, within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act ...
- 1972, Evans v. Ewels, Weekly Law Reports, vol. 1, page 671 at pp. 674–675:
- It seems to me that at any rate today, and indeed by 1824, the word "person" in connection with sexual matters had acquired a meaning of its own; a meaning which made it a synonym for "penis." It may be ... that it was the forerunner of Victorian gentility which prevented people calling a penis a penis. But however that may be I am satisfied in my own mind that it has now acquired an established meaning to the effect already stated. It is I venture to say, well known amongst those who practise in the courts that the word "person" is so used over and over again. It is the familiar synonym of that part of the body, and, as one of the reasons for my decision in this case, I would use that interpretation of what was prevailing in 1824 and what has become established in the 150 years since then.
- 1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4:
- (grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person. [from 14th c.]
- (biology) A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.
- 1884, Patrick Geddes, "Morphology", in Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 16
- True corms, composed of united personae […] usually arise by gemmation, […] yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Haeckel to this entry?)
- 1884, Patrick Geddes, "Morphology", in Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 16
Usage notes
- In senses 1.1, 1.3, and 1.4, the plural is most commonly people, with persons occasionally used in formal speech or writing. Some native speakers will find persons inappropriate, even in formal usage. In senses 1.2, 2, 3, and 5 persons is the only plural.
- Referring to an individual as a “person” (rather than a gentleman, lady, etc.) was formerly perceived as a slight.
- Today, all major style guides recommend people rather than persons. For example, the Associated Press and the New York Times recommend "people" except in quotations and set phrases. Under the traditional distinction, which Garner says is pedantic, persons describes a finite, known number of individuals, rather than the collective term people. "Persons" is correct in technical and legal contexts.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:person
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
person (third-person singular simple present persons, present participle personing, simple past and past participle personed)
- (obsolete, transitive) To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
- (transitive, gender-neutral) To man.
Anagrams
- Posner, nopers, preons, prones, spreon
Breton
Noun
person m (plural personed)
- vicar
Inflection
Danish
Etymology
From Latin persona
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -o??n
Noun
person c (singular definite personen, plural indefinite personer)
- person
- character
- figure
- people
Inflection
References
- “person” in Den Danske Ordbog
Esperanto
Noun
person
- accusative singular of perso
Finnish
Adjective
person
- genitive singular of perso
Indonesian
Etymology
From Dutch persoon, from Middle Dutch persone, ultimately from Latin pers?na.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [p?r?s?n]
- Hyphenation: pêr?son
Noun
person (first-person possessive personku, second-person possessive personmu, third-person possessive personnya)
- person, individual
- Synonyms: perseorangan, pribadi
Related terms
Further reading
- “person” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Latin persona.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pær.su?n/, [pæ.??u?n] (Standard Eastern Norwegian)
Noun
person m (definite singular personen, indefinite plural personer, definite plural personene)
- a person
Derived terms
References
- “person” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Latin persona.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pær.su?n/, [pæ.??u?n]
Noun
person m (definite singular personen, indefinite plural personar, definite plural personane)
- a person
Derived terms
References
- “person” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Scots
Noun
person (plural people)
- (law) An individual with rights and responsibilities under the law.
- (law) An individual or formal organisation with standing before the courts.
- In fiction, any sentient or socially intelligent being.
Swedish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /p?r?su?n/, [p???u?n]
Noun
person c
- a human being
- an individual
Declension
Related terms
References
- person in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
Anagrams
- porens, porsen, ropens
Welsh
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin pers?na (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”). Probably through English and Old French persone (“human being”)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?p?rs?n/
Noun
person m (plural personau)
- person
- Synonym: unigolyn
Derived terms
- personol
Noun
person m (plural personiaid)
- parson
- clergyman
- Synonym: clerigwr, offeiriad
Mutation
person From the web:
- what personality type am i
- what personality type
- what personality type was jesus
- what personality disorder do i have
- what personality type was hitler
- what person invented soccer
- what personality type is harry styles
- what personality types are compatible
you may also like
- creature vs person
- creature vs people
- creature vs item
- creature vs reptile
- specimen vs creature
- creature vs chap
- creature vs specie
- conflict vs creature
- organism vs creature
- lifeform vs bioform
- organism vs lifeform
- living vs lifeform
- lifeform vs rangeomorph
- specie vs cultivar
- money vs specie
- specie vs capital
- genus vs specie
- specie vs range
- race vs specie
- compound vs specie