English
personal
Personal comes from Middle English personal, from Anglo-Norman personel, from Late Latin persōnālis ‘of a person’, from persōna ‘person’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpersōna1‘person’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpersōnālis1‘of a person’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400personel1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500personal1
- Englishearliest quotation 1921personal1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English personal
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1921, Ben Travers, Garden City: “The most rapid and most seductive transition in all…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpersōnaWiktionary, English personal‘person’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpersōnālisWiktionary, English personal‘of a person’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400personelWiktionary, English personal
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500personalWiktionary, English personal
- Englishearliest quotation 1921personalWiktionary, English personal. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1921, Ben Travers, Garden City: “The most rapid and most seductive transition in all…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with personal, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- ‘to sound’
through Latin sonō ‘make a noise, sound, resound’
25 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Pertaining to persons (human beings as opposed to things or animals).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “personal”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin persōna / personal