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 JPL Reddit forum, which had historically been a place for aspiring engineers and scientists to ask employees about getting hired and about life at the lab, turned sour.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“And also, if they want to encourage their employer, their employees, to see certain types of doctors, and they can work with providers that are identifying the highest quality fertility providers.”

Read more on Salon

The ministry accused the NSA of exploiting weaknesses in the messaging service of an unspecified foreign mobile phone brand in order to steal login credentials from employees at the time centre.

Read more on Barron's

In Tahlequah, it has 200 employees and is finishing a second facility that will hold 100 more.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Chinese employees have long complained about the country’s “996” work schedule—9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

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.