Individuel

Individuel is a French adjective meaning related to or characteristic of a single person or thing, as opposed to collective or shared. It denotes a private, personal, or one-to-one scope. The word agrees with the gender and number of the noun: un droit individuel, une approche individuelle; des droits individuels, des approches individuelles. The feminine form is individuelle, and the masculine plural is individuels, the feminine plural individuelles.

Etymology: The term comes from Latin individuus, meaning indivisible, formed in French through the influence of Old French. The sense evolved to refer to things pertaining to a single unit or person.

Usage: Individuel is common in law, administration, education, and commerce to distinguish personal or one-to-one aspects from collective or shared ones. Examples include contrat individuel, responsabilité individuelle, enseignement individuel, soins individuels, and logement individuel. In policy discourse, it contrasts with terms such as collectif, public, or communal.

In other languages, cognates exist: Italian individuale, Spanish individual, English individual, all sharing the same root meaning a single entity; the exact usage may vary by grammar and syntax.