Personify

Personify is a verb meaning to attribute human qualities, emotions, or intentions to non-human things, or to present them as if they were human. The noun form personification refers to the act of attributing these qualities as well as to the figure of speech that embodies them. The word stems from Latin persona, meaning “mask” or “character.”

In literature and rhetoric, personification is a figure of speech in which animals, objects, or ideas are endowed with human traits such as speech, emotion, or motivation. It is often used to create vivid imagery or to express abstract concepts more concretely. Examples include “The wind whispered through the pines” or “Justice wore a blindfold.” In addition to poetry and prose, personification can appear in design and storytelling to help an audience relate to non-human subjects by imbuing them with recognizable character or agency. Personification is distinct from metaphor in that it treats the non-human as a person rather than simply equating two things.

Anthropomorphism is a broader term that encompasses personification, especially when non-human entities are given full human form or behavior, such as talking animals or deities depicted in human likeness. Personification is frequently observed in folklore, poetry, and children’s literature, and remains common in contemporary advertising and branding as a way to animate products or concepts.

See also: metaphor, anthropomorphism, allegory.