Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell personnel

hear itper·son·nel/,pɜrsə'nɛl/nounAcademic

What it means: The staff of an organization.

In a sentence: The hospital personnel help take care of sick people.

The part people get wrong

Watch for double n. Often misspelled as personel or personell.

Sounds like, but is not: personal. Same sound, different spelling and meaning.

Same family: personal, personally, personality, personhood, personage. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Personnel” comes from French, where it literally meant “the persons” of an organization. It entered English in the 1800s, and for many years companies used “personnel department” where we often say “human resources” or “HR” today.

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