Wordwyrt

impersonal

/ˌɪmˈpɜːsənəl/im-PUR-suh-nuhl
/ˌɪmˈpɝsənəl/im-PUR-suh-nuhl

Meaningnot referring to a person

Common meaning: showing no personal feeling or connection

Journey through time

  1. Latinimpersonalis‘not referring to a person’source
  2. Frenchmeaning shiftsnot referring to a person → impersonallimpersonnel‘impersonall’source
  3. Englishmeaning shiftsimpersonall → showing no personal feeling or connectionimpersonal‘showing no personal feeling or connection’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin impersonalis ‘not referring to a person’.

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app