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

If Carruthers is executed, he would be the first person in nearly a century to be executed after being forced to represent himself.

From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026

McIlroy’s approach to preparing for this year’s Masters was inspired in part by Nicklaus, the first person to repeat at Augusta National.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

Glover was the first person of color to fly around the Moon, Koch was the first woman, and Canadian Hansen the first non-American.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

In the 1990s, I had the opportunity to speak to Neil Armstrong, who, in 1969, became the first person to ever walk on the moon.

From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026

The celebrated Russian aviator Pyotr Nesterov—who, incidentally, was the first person ever to fly an aerobatic loop, in 1913—also made the first known taran attack.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein