personnel

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French personnel. Doublet of personal.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /pɝ.səˈnɛl/, /pɝsˈnɛl/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɜː.səˈnɛl/, /pɜːsˈnɛl/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /pɵː.sɘˈnɛl/, /pɵːsˈnɛl/, /-el/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl

Noun

personnel (countable and uncountable, plural personnels)

1. Collection of people in an organization, such as employees and office staff, members of the military, etc.
   • 1924, U.S. Army Recruiting News, page 10:

     People like to see such friendly relationship existing between the respective personnels of their Army, Navy and Marine Corps.

   • 1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 421:

     Newspapers in "capitalist" ownership, universities presided over by "reactionary" governing bodies, broadcasting systems owned by conservative governments have all been known to influence public opinion in the direction of socialism, because this was the conviction of the personnel.

   • 2010 August 4, Leonard S. Rubenstein, JD; Stephen N. Xenakis, MD, “The Ethics of Enhanced Interrogations and Torture: A Reappraisal of the Argument”, in JAMA‎, volume 304, number 5, American Medical Association, →DOI, pages 569–570:

     In 2009, the Obama Administration released guidelines on enhanced interrogation written in 2003 and 2004 by the CIA Office of Medical Services. ^{(OMS).1-3(appendix F)} The OMS guidelines, even in redacted form, and opinions from the US Department of Justice's (DOJ’s) Office of Legal Counsel show that CIA physicians, psychologists, and other health care personnel had important roles in enhanced interrogation.

2. (nonstandard, countable, plural personnel) A member of an organization such as an army.
   • 2025 April 12, “Soldier Killed In Action As Army Stops Infiltration Attempt Along Line Of Control”, in India News‎, NDTV:

     An army personnel has been killed in action in a gunfight after security forces intercepted terrorists making an infiltration attempt near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said today.

   • 2025 July 17, “Army, police shoot dead 4 protesters in Bangladesh”, in Daily Finland‎:

     An army personnel was seen to torture an injured protester.

3. (uncountable) A human resources department.

   I've just had a letter from personnel.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with personal.

Derived terms

• anti-personnel
• armored personnel carrier
• armoured personnel carrier
• military personnel
• personnel basket
• personnel carrier
• personnel transfer basket

Translations

members of an organization

Azerbaijani: şəxsi heyət Belarusian: персана́л m (pjersanál), пэрсана́л m (persanál), асабо́вы саста́ў m (asabóvy sastáŭ), асабо́вы склад m (asabóvy sklad) Bulgarian: персона́л (bg) m (personál), ли́чен съста́в m (líčen sǎstáv) Chinese: Mandarin: 人員 / 人员 (zh) (rényuán) Danish: personale (da) n, personel (da) n, mandskab n Dutch: personeel (nl) n, medewerkers (nl) m pl Finnish: henkilökunta (fi), henkilöstö (fi) French: personnel (fr) m Georgian: პერსონალი (ṗersonali), კადრები (ḳadrebi), შტატი (šṭaṭi) German: Personal (de) n Hebrew: סֶגֶל (he) m (segel) Hungarian: személyzet (hu) Ido: personaro (io) Indonesian: personel (id), personil (id) Italian: personale (it) m Malagasy: olona (mg) Malay: kakitangan (ms) Norwegian: Bokmål: personell n Polish: personel (pl) m, kadra (pl) f Portuguese: pessoal (pt) m Romanian: personal (ro) Russian: ли́чный соста́в (ru) m (líčnyj sostáv), персона́л (ru) m (personál) Spanish: personal (es) m, plantel (es) m Swedish: personal (sv) c Turkish: personel (tr) pl, çalışanlar pl, kadro (tr) Ukrainian: персона́л m (personál), особо́вий склад m (osobóvyj sklad) (chiefly military) Volapük: (collective) pösodef (vo) Welsh: personél m

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin persōnālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.sɔ.nɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

personnel (feminine personnelle, masculine plural personnels, feminine plural personnelles)

1. (relational) personal

   Synonym: (informal) perso

Derived terms

• assistant numérique personnel
• développement personnel
• effet personnel
• pronom personnel

Related terms

• impersonnel

Noun

personnel m (plural personnels)

1. staff, members of staff, personnel

Derived terms

• délégué du personnel

Related terms

• personnaliser
• personne
• personnellement

Descendants

• → Dutch: personeel
  • Afrikaans: personeel
  • → Indonesian: personel
• → English: personnel
• → Polish: personel
• → Persian: پرسنل (personel)
• → Turkish: personel

Further reading

• “personnel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.