People
nounHuman beings considered collectively, more than one person.
How to spell people
6 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce people
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does people mean?
- nounHuman beings considered collectively, more than one person.
People in a sentence
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Thousands of people attended the festival over the weekend.
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Most people prefer to book their flights well in advance.
Where does people come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word comes from the Latin populus, which meant 'a people' or 'the public', the whole body of citizens making up a community. It passed into Old French as 'peuple' or 'pople', and English borrowed it during the 1200s, gradually settling on the spelling 'people'. The same Latin root gives us a whole family of related words, including 'popular', 'population', 'public', and 'republic', all tied to the idea of the common body of citizens. The spelling trap is entirely down to history: the unusual 'eo' combination is a frozen relic of the French and Latin forms, and it stubbornly sounds like a simple long 'ee'. Because nothing in the pronunciation hints at that silent, decorative 'o', writers sometimes slip and reach for 'peple' or 'peopel'.
How the word is built
- peopl- (from Latin populus: a population, the public)
- -e (final silent vowel from French spelling)
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