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

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Etymology

Origin of employee

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

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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

Alfozan was an employee on OpenAI’s product team from July 2025 until he was fired and arrested in October.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

The Care Inspectorate's August 2023 visit was meant to be unannounced, but the regulator has since admitted it is likely Mathewson received "confidential information" about inspections from an employee.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Part of the June plan was a $40 billion program for selling shares gradually into the market, which Alphabet says is mainly meant to cover taxes on employee stock awards.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026

She became the highest-ranking female employee in Padres history when she was promoted to COO in 2023.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

The oscillating fan on the wall made the papers on the employee bulletin board flutter.

From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia

The number of private-sector employees fell by 52,500, while public-sector employment was up 49,600.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

In addition, it requires department employees to participate in investigations of the groups “as a condition of employment.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

“Allowing employees to keep their laptops was another practical way to support them as they move on to what’s next,” the company added.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

During a Q&A with employees, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman fielded questions about data centers and public sentiment on AI, according to people familiar with the matter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

The next minute, it seems, I’ve got a business of my own, with employees, and I’m rich.

From "Lawn Boy" by Gary Paulsen

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Related Words

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

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