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; -ee

Example Sentences

The siege mentality of these gated communities exacted an immense human toll on employees, struggling for essentials like water or electricity.

From MarketWatch

Zalando said it would begin negotiations with the Erfurt works council immediately and that it has developed some support offers to assist its employees.

From The Wall Street Journal

German online fashion retailer Zalando said Thursday that it would close a distribution centre in the eastern city of Erfurt and lay off 2,700 employees to restructure its European logistics network.

From Barron's

Rakuten Medical, which has about 130 employees, is conducting a global Phase 3 human trial of its therapy for head and neck cancer, aiming to enroll about 400 patients by the end of 2027.

From The Wall Street Journal

For executives and employees, customers and competitors and, yes, shareholders, the consequences here are substantial.

From Barron's

Related Words

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