personnel

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /pɝ.səˈnɛl/ UK /pɜː.səˈnɛl/ See IPA manual

Freq #4622

Meanings

1

noun
The people who work for an organization or in the armed forces.

All personnel must wear a safety helmet on the building site.
2

noun
The department in a company that hires and looks after staff.

I've just had a letter from personnel about my contract.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · the department in a company... personnel department

Word family

Derived forms anti-personnelantipersonnelnonpersonnel

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

personnel carrier
a military vehicle used to transport service members and their equipment

Noun + noun

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French personnel. Doublet of personal.

personnel French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# personnel

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /pɝ.səˈnɛl/
**IPA (UK):** /pɜː.səˈnɛl/
**Frequency rank:** 4622

## Meanings
1. The people who work for an organization or in the armed forces.
2. The department in a company that hires and looks after staff.

## Examples
- All personnel must wear a safety helmet on the building site.
- I've just had a letter from personnel about my contract.

## Derived Forms
- anti-personnel
- antipersonnel
- nonpersonnel

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: personnel

## Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French personnel. Doublet of personal.

## AI Etymology
Personnel is an unadapted borrowing from French personnel. Doublet of personal. The historical chain includes personnel (French). In present-day English it covers the people who work for an organization or in the armed forces and the department in a company that hires and looks after staff. The wider family includes derived forms such as anti-personnel, antipersonnel, nonpersonnel.

## Topics
- People & Society

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