employee

American  

[em-ploi-ee, em-ploi-ee] / ɛmˈplɔɪ i, ˌɛm plɔɪˈi /

Rarely employe,

noun

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

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employee British  

/ 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

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Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

• preemployee
  noun
• proemployee
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of employee

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

Explanation

An employee is someone who's hired to do a particular job for pay. If you like to shop in a certain store, you might also enjoy being an employee there. You can see the verb employ, meaning "put to use," in employee. You can employ a pen in writing a letter, just as a grocery store might employ workers to collect the shopping carts from the parking lot. A person who is put to work is an employee. Employee implies that the worker reports to a boss, and it's most commonly used for non-executives who work for a salary.

Example Sentences

The agreement addresses the notification rights of an accused employee who has been removed from that employee’s original position.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026

During AFP's ride with the service, which the company says is used by 300 people, the operator -- a Verne employee named Deni Link -- never had to step in.

From Barron's • May 5, 2026

The unions also may not force an employee to “disclose the reason for his or her membership termination.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026

Palantir’s revenue per employee reached $1.5 million on an annualized basis, and Karp pointed out on the earnings call that the company only employs 70 salespeople.

From MarketWatch • May 4, 2026

In the end, Father did fire Otto—the first employee he had ever discharged in more than sixty years in business.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

• agent
• attendant
• clerk
• laborer
• member
• operator
• representative
• staff member
• worker