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persona

per·sona

UK/pɜːˈsəʊnə/ US/pɝˈsoʊnə/ uncommon

noun

1.

an actor''s portrayal of someone in a play

  • “she played the part of Desdemona”
Synonyms
2.

(Jungian psychology) a personal facade that one presents to the world

  • “a public image is as fragile as Humpty Dumpty”
Synonyms

Origin

Borrowed from Latin persōna (“mask; character”), of uncertain origin. Suggested to be from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask; masked individual; actor”), which could be a loan from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon, “face; appearance; mask used in ancient theatre to denote a character or, more generally, a social role”). Doublet of person and parson.

Phrases

  • alter ego
  • dramatis persona
  • in propria persona
  • persona grata
  • persona muta
  • persona non grata

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.