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 Victor Glover -- the first person of color to fly around the Moon -- a lot of that raw delight arrived at takeoff.

From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026

“I was the first person to ever reach out to Shira,” he says proudly in a separate phone interview.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

The historic journey took place three years after the Soviet Union sent the first person of color into space, the Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

In 2025, Musk became the first person ever to achieve a net worth of more than $500bn.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

‘You are the first person I have ever told. Even your father doesn’t know.’

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler