first person

American  

[furst pur-suhn] / ˈfɜrst ˈpɜr sən /

noun

1. the grammatical person used by a speaker in statements referring to the speaker's own self first person singular or to a group including the speaker first person plural.

2. a pronoun or verb form in the first person, as I or am in English, or a set of such forms.

3. a literary style in which the narrative is told from the perspective of a narrator speaking directly.

   The story is written in the first person.

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first person British  

noun

1. a grammatical category of pronouns and verbs used by the speaker to refer to or talk about himself or herself, either alone ( first person singular ) or together with others ( first person plural )

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Etymology

Origin of first person

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

“For a few moments, you’re the first person to know when you’re looking at those results. You already sort of have an idea of what this means.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

The first person to get sick was a 70-year-old Dutch man, who became ill April 6 and died April 11 on board the ship, according to health officials.

From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026

The first person who died developed symptoms on April 6, according to the UN health agency which said it was alerted on Saturday.

From Barron's • May 5, 2026

South African authorities told the BBC the first person to show virus symptoms was a 70-year-old passenger who died on board.

From BBC • May 3, 2026

The first person to approach looked very familiar, and only after Ilya dropped to a knee and bowed did Anya realize who he was.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack