employee

American  

[em-ploi-ee, em-ploi-ee] / ɛmˈplɔɪ i, ˌɛm plɔɪˈi /

Rarely employe,

noun

• employees
  plural

1. a person working for another person or a business firm for pay.

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employee British  

/ ˌɛmplɔɪˈiː, ɛmˈplɔɪiː /

noun

1. Also called (esp formerly): employé.  a person who is hired to work for another or for a business, firm, etc, in return for payment

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Usage

What does employee mean? An employee is someone who gets paid to work for a person or company. Workers don’t need to work full time to be considered employees—they simply need to be paid to work by an employer (the person or business that pays them). The term employee is sometimes used to distinguish contract workers from full employees (who often earn additional benefits), but in this example, both types of workers are considered employees in the general sense. Example: My company has more than 500 employees.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• preemployee
  noun
• proemployee
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• employees
  plural

Etymology

Origin of employee

First recorded in 1825–35; from French employé “employed,” past participle of employer to employ; see -ee

Explanation

An employee is someone who's hired to do a particular job for pay. If you like to shop in a certain store, you might also enjoy being an employee there. You can see the verb employ, meaning "put to use," in employee. You can employ a pen in writing a letter, just as a grocery store might employ workers to collect the shopping carts from the parking lot. A person who is put to work is an employee. Employee implies that the worker reports to a boss, and it's most commonly used for non-executives who work for a salary.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

employee employees

Authorities are also pursuing a case that focuses on an employee at KPMG, the global accounting and consulting firm, people familiar with that investigation said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Carlos Baco, a 74-year-old government employee, hopes oil revenues will start flowing under the new deal, but said he hasn't felt the effects of the increase in oil production over the past few months.

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

A self-described “workaholic,” Cook famously wakes up at 4 a.m. to read customer and employee emails, then hits the gym and badges into Apple Park when he’s not traveling for diplomatic meetings or supply-chain audits.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

The public-transit authority in Boston is paying a nearly $500,000 settlement stemming from a team-building dinner where the popular general manager poked fun at his own baldness and pulled the hair of an employee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

He couldn’t believe a trusted Pentagon employee with top security clearance had leaked information to the press.

From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge

Four immigration employees, including the head of the Rasuwagadhi office, went missing in the floods.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

The state Legislature on Monday approved McNerney’s bill, Senate Bill 947, which would bar employers from “solely” using automated decision-making systems to discipline or fire employees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Apple has around 166,000 employees around the world, according to its most recent annual report.

From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026

But the firm’s U.S. division wants to recognize employees with uniquely human skills like critical thinking, adaptability and judgment—things EY says matter most to its future and clients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Garfield’s assassination by a disgruntled job seeker spurred the public into demanding an end to the spoils system of hiring government employees.

From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow

Related Words

• agent
• attendant
• clerk
• laborer
• member
• operator
• representative
• staff member
• worker