employee

Rarely em·ploy·e,

[em-ploi-ee, em-ploi-ee]

noun

1. a person working for another person or a business firm for pay.

employee

/ ˌɛmplɔɪˈiː, ɛmˈplɔɪiː /

noun

1. Also called (esp formerly): employé. a person who is hired to work for another or for a business, firm, etc, in return for payment

Other Word Forms

• preemployee noun
• proemployee adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of employee¹

First recorded in 1825–35; from French employé “employed,” past participle of employer to employ; -ee

Example Sentences

The 64-year-old former FBI chief is accused of falsely stating that he had not authorized another FBI employee to be an anonymous source in news reports.

Read more on Barron's

The federal agency that produces much of the nation’s economic data will bring some furloughed employees back to work so it can publish a key inflation report for September, an administration official said.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

When it comes to the most important customers—employees—corporate leaders forget how alignment works.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The company has learned what Michiganders have known for decades: The United Auto Workers bears no resemblance to the collaborative employee councils common in Germany.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

She spent 18 months serving a Spanish-speaking mission in Salmon, Idaho, where many ranch hands were seasonal employees from Latin America.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• agent 
• attendant 
• clerk 
• laborer 
• member 
• operator 
• representative 
• staff member www.thesaurus.com
• worker 

When To Use

What does employee mean?

An employee is someone who gets paid to work for a person or company.Workers don’t need to work full time to be considered employees—they simply need to be paid to work by an employer (the person or business that pays them). The term employee is sometimes used to distinguish contract workers from full employees (who often earn additional benefits), but in this example, both types of workers are considered employees in the general sense.Example: My company has more than 500 employees.