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

It alternates between "found footage" segments filmed in first person that resemble his web show, and more classic filmic shots.

From Barron's • May 28, 2026

A few months later, the 59-year-old became the first person in Northern Ireland to have his cancer removed in an oesophagectomy using robotic assisted surgery.

From BBC • May 19, 2026

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

From Slate • May 14, 2026

“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

A few copies were sent immediately to Rome—the first person there to receive a copy was Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the nephew of the Pope, who wrote to Galileo saying how much he enjoyed it.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin