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.

---

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 )

---

Etymology

Origin of first person

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

That patient, the first person to be treated by the unit, was American medical missionary Rick Sacra.

From Slate • May 14, 2026

“But I’m always the first person to say, ‘No, they’re not overhyped.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

"He was the first person to make international wildlife popular," Scholey adds.

From BBC • May 9, 2026

The WHO was trying to work out how hantavirus had appeared on the ship, with the first person who died having developed symptoms on April 6.

From Barron's • May 6, 2026

Like now: he was imagining that he was a pioneer, the first person ever to hike this hill.

From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech