employee

See also: employée

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From employ +‎ -ee.[1][2] First attested in the early 19th century, possibly modeled after French employé.[1][3]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɛmplɔɪˈiː/, /ˌɛmˈplɔɪiː/, /(ˌ)ɪm-/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Hyphenation: em‧ploy‧ee
  • Rhymes: -iː

Noun

employee (plural employees)

  1. An individual who provides labor to a company or another person.
    Synonym: member of staff
    Hypernym: worker
    Holonyms: business, company
    One way to encourage your employees to work harder is by giving them incentives.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Hocussing of Cigarette‎:
      No one, however, would have anything to do with him, as Mr. Keeson's orders in those respects were very strict ; he had often threatened any one of his employés with instant dismissal if he found him in company with one of these touts.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References
  1. “employee”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “employee”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. “employee, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
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