How to describe people in english
How to describe people in english
20 Ways to Describe People in English
Updated October 7, 2020
How do you describe people in English?
You can call someone an idiot.
You can say some people are beautiful, shy, intelligent or boring.
But let’s face it…after a while, we just need to add more colour to our English! After all, people are complex beings with complex behaviour, and simple words aren’t always enough. After you’ve mastered basic insults and fun slang words to sound like a native English speaker, it’s time we start spicing up your descriptions!
Which of these apply to your personality? How would you describe your family or friends?
Know-it-all
A know-it-all is someone who thinks they are more intelligent than others and like to show it. They will often act as if other people’s suggestions or opinions are inferior, even if they don’t do it on purpose. This expression is used to describe someone negatively.
Example: “I hate my sister’s husband. He always thinks he’s better than us just because he’s a doctor and acts as if we have nothing interesting to say. Such a know-it-all!”
Go-getter
Example: “To get this job you must be a go-getter. You can’t wait for others to tell you what to do.”
Pain in the neck
Do you know how a pain in the neck can be extremely inconvenient, annoying and persistent? That’s exactly who we use the expression for: people who are always bothering us for one reason or the other. You can also use it for actions, not people. For example, you could say: “Preparing for job interviews is such a pain in the neck!”.
Example: “My cousin is such a pain in the neck. He’s always asking me to do chores for him and drive him to different places. I can’t wait for him to leave!”
Couch potato
Example: “You’re such a couch potato. You should get up and do some exercise!”
A social butterfly
Are you the type of person who loves parties, is very talkative, has dozens of friends and goes out regularly to meet new people? Then you could be considered a social butterfly! Just like butterflies, you fly around jumping from flower to flower. A social person might love interacting with completely different people on a regular basis!
Example: “I’m kind of shy, but my sister is a social butterfly.”
A lone wolf
A lone wolf is somebody who enjoys spending time alone, whether that means working alone, studying alone or just having hobbies that tend to be more individual in nature, such as painting, writing, playing some types of video games, creating music, reading, etc. It is not a negative expression necessarily – someone might be a lone wolf but still be a kind, respectful person. Usually the lone wolf is also somewhat mysterious and reserved.
Example: “Thanks for inviting me to join the group, but I’m more of a lone wolf: I prefer working alone.”
A man/woman of his/her word
Promises should not be broken. A man or woman of his/her word is somebody who respects that. For example, somebody who promised to help you clean your apartment and follows through with it is a man of his word. Someone who promises to convince the manager to give you a promotion and actually does it is a woman of her word. Basically, they are people you can trust!
Example: “Don’t worry, you can trust her: she’s a woman of her word!”
A party animal
We all have that friend. The one who always has a bottle in hand, who knows everything about the next event, who gets the cheapest tickets to concerts and festivals. How can they handle those high heels until 5 in the morning? How can they still look amazing while sweating and dancing? No idea, but one thing is for sure – a party animal is the type of person who just loves partying and going out to have some fun!
Example: “John is a party animal…he goes to parties every weekend and dances all night long!”
A dark horse
Admit it – you probably have one or two secret talents you don’t tell people about. Maybe you don’t want to sound cocky or arrogant. Well, a dark horse is somebody who keeps some secret achievements or successes hidden from others. What is your secret talent?
Example: “Wait, you’ve won a national singing contest? I didn’t know you could sing. I see we’ve got a dark horse in here!”
A wimp
Being a wimp means being afraid of confrontation, not being brave. A wimp is often scared, insecure and passive. For that reason, wimps often attract aggressive, controlling people who push them around and always tell them what to do. Perhaps all of us are wimps once in a while, depending on the circumstances!
Example: “Stop being such a wimp and confront her right now!”
A wallflower
Watch any highschool movie and you’re likely to find that one character who stands in the corner of every party: silent, shy, invisible and awkward. Well, we have a name for that in English! It’s called being a “wallflower” – it means you’re not very outgoing, but rather hide or prefer not to be seen. It used to be mostly associated with shy or introverted girls, but nowadays it is used for everybody.
Example: “I was a wallflower when I was 16. Nobody would notice me at parties because I was so quiet!”
A hot-headed person
A hot-headed person gets angry easily. Any little thing can trigger them: bad news, traffic, a different opinion or just unpleasant information. When you are hot headed, you explode in a matter of seconds and storm out of the room, create fights with others or respond very aggressively. That’s why people tend to be very careful with what they say and do around hot-headed people!
Example: “I wouldn’t tell him your secret. He’s really hot-headed and might overreact.”
A show-off
Remember how dark horses are people who tend to hide their talents and achievements not to seem arrogant? A show-off is the exact opposite. Somebody who likes showing off enjoys talking about their own skills, talents, successes and shiny moments. While talking about your positive memories doesn’t automatically make you a show-off, doing it regularly might!
Example: “Why are you always posting photos of your vacation online? Such a show-off!”
Easy-going / laid-back
Example: “Don’t worry, you’ll definitely get along with him! He’s so easy-going.”
An early bird / a night owl
Tell us more about yourself. Are you the type of person who loves waking up early and working in the morning, or do you prefer to stay up late at night? Do you feel more creative really early or do you get a creativity boost around midnight? Interestingly, we have English terms for both of these types of people: if you are a morning person, you are an early bird. If you love staying awake in the evening and night, you are considered a night owl!
Example: “My child is an early bird, she wakes up at 6 in the morning every single day. Me? I’m definitely a night owl!”
A gold digger
Dating is already difficult as it is, but not knowing who to trust might be the trickiest part. Who is dating us just for fun? Who is interested in having a serious relationship? Who is interested in…well…our wallets? A gold digger is usually a person who is dating just to get the other person’s money or resources by association. Usually they will leave once they find somebody who is richer or their current partner gets in financial trouble.
Example: “Be careful. She’s not with you for your heart, she’s with you for your money…you don’t want to be with a gold digger!”
A bad egg
A bad egg is somebody with a bad character: someone who cannot be trusted and whose behaviour is questionable. It makes sense, if you think about it: sometimes you cannot tell if an egg is good for eating just by looking at it. It is the inside that counts!
Example: “I don’t trust that boy, he’s a bad egg.”
An armchair critic
The internet has brought us a whole new generation of armchair critics. These are people who criticize others (as well as politicians, businesses, news, music, etc) without ever offering a solution or participating in a practical way. The expression itself is quite visual: you can almost imagine a passive, comfortable critic sitting in an armchair and not lifting a finger to change what they don’t agree with!
Example: “How about you stop being an armchair critic and actually start helping?”
A big-headed person
Can you guess what this expression means? Be careful…it does not mean you are smart or intelligent! When you have a big head, it means you think you are more important than you actually are. You believe you are superior, better than others. As you can see, it is quite a tricky expression and could be mistaken for something positive, when it is actually pretty negative.
Example: “You’re really big-headed. Stop being so arrogant and thinking you’re better than everyone else!”
A goody two-shoes
Have you ever seen a girl or woman who looks absolutely flawless and perfect? They seem to be intelligent, pretty, classy, pure and “clean” as can be. They never seem to make any mistakes, do anything wrong or be rude to anybody. They always seem to be happy, kind and civilized. Which…can sometimes become annoying to outsiders! When you accuse somebody of being a “goody two-shoes”, you are basically claiming they are annoyingly perfect and morally safe.
Example: “I’m so tired of her. She acts like a goody two-shoes and people always think she’s perfect.”
Who do you know that you could describe with these idioms?
Which ones could you apply to yourself?
Had you ever seen these expressions in movies or series?
Make sure you also check how to express your feelings in English and these super popular sports idioms that every native English speaker knows!
If you’d like to put your English description skills into practise, head over to our website and meet our English speaking teachers today.
Describing People in English
If you are studying English online by yourself, a good place to start is by learning how to describe the people around you, your friends, your family, and yourself!
In this post we introduce over 40 vocabulary words for describing people in English, along with 6 sentence frames to use them in. The first three sentence frames are basic (level A1). The other three are a little more advanced (level A2-B1). All of the vocabulary is basic (levels A1 to A2). (If you don’t know what A1 and A2 and B1 and B2 mean, learn about the CEFR!)
Note: Reading this article in English will be difficult for A1 and A2 students. We will soon translate this article into many different languages!
What is a Sentence Frame?
Sentence frames are a really useful way to learn how we speak English. A sentence frame is a sentence with an empty slot that many different words can go in for many different situations. For example, if you learn the sentence frame I feel [ADJECTIVE], you can make hundreds of different sentences. All you need to do is learn a new adjective that fits in that slot: I feel hungry. I feel tired. I feel angry. I feel sick. At a basic level, sentence frames are a great way to learn English!
The first three sentence frames we will look at are simple sentences. One of the most common ways to describe people is with adjectives: tall, short, fat, skinny, pretty, handsome, ugly. To use these common adjectives in a sentence, try this frame:
The man is [ADJECTIVE].
The man is tall. The man is fat. The man is ugly. The man is in shape. These are all good sentences in English.
It is important to know that The man is another slot that you can change. The woman is tall. My friend is tall. My dad is tall. Jane is tall. She is tall. You can put any person in that slot.
Now let’s take a look at some adjectives describing people that can fit into this slot:
| Word | Pronunciation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| tall | /tɔl/ | greater in height than the average person; not short |
| short | /ʃɔrt/ | lesser in height than the average person; not tall |
| thin | /θɪn/ | not having lots of extra flesh; not fat |
| fat | /fæt/ | having lots of extra flesh; not thin |
| old | /oʊld/ | having lived many years; not young |
| young | /jʌŋ/ | not having lived many years; not old |
| in shape | /ɪn ʃeɪp/ | healthy and physically strong |
| out of shape | /aʊt ʌv ʃeɪp/ | not healthy or physically strong |
| beautiful | /ˈbjutəfəl/ | attractive; good looking (mainly for females) |
| ugly | /ˈʌgli/ | not attractive; not good looking |
| handsome | /ˈhænsəm/ | attractive; good-looking (usually for males) |
| bald | /bɔld/ | not having hair on the top of the head |
The next basic sentence frame for describing people in English focuses on a specific feature: glasses, curly hair, black hair, blue eyes, a mustache, a ponytail. To talk about a person’s features, use this sentence:
The woman has [FEATURE].
With this sentence frame, you can make lots of different sentences:The woman has curly hair. The woman has glasses. The woman has long hair. The woman has a ponytail.
Again, you can change the person slot as well: The man has long hair. My friend has long hair. My sister has long hair. Clara has long hair.
Here are some features (nouns or nouns with adjectives) that can fit into this sentence frame:
The last sentence we will talk about for describing people focuses on clothes. Who doesn’t love clothes!? Black shoes! Gray pants! Blue ties! Green skirts! But let’s make complete sentences with them. Here is the sentence frame:
The woman is wearing [CLOTHES].
And here is a list of clothes that can go into this sentence:
All of these clothing items can be used with color words to be even more descriptive. The woman is wearing black shoes. The man is wearing a yellow tie.
So, those three sentence frames, combined with this vocabulary, allow you to make hundreds of different sentences to describe people. If you are a beginner, and this is mostly new information for you, you can stop here.
But, if you know most of this stuff, and you want to learn some more advanced English sentences, read on!
Complex Sentence Frames Describing People
The first three frames talked about nouns, features, and clothes, in that order, right? The next three frames will be used to talk about the same three things, but in a more complex way. All of the same vocabulary from the sections above can be used with the next three frames, in the same order.
In the first three sentence frames, the main idea of each sentence was describing people. The sentences were about describing people. The thing that I want to tell you about the man is that he is tall. But sometimes we want to describe people in a sentence about something else, and the description is not the most important idea in the sentence. For example, maybe I want to tell you that the man is my neighbor, but I also want to mention that he is tall. These next sentence frames will help in situations like that.
Let’s use that example. The I want to tell you that the man is my neighbor, and I also want to describe him as tall. I can put the adjective before the noun: The tall man is my neighbor. You can also put any of the other adjectives from above into that slot.
The [ADJECTIVE] man is my neighbor.
The handsome man is my neighbor. The old man is my neighbor. The fat man is my neighbor. And again, the end of the sentence (which we call the predicate) is a slot, too, and you can put different verbs in there: The tall man likes football. The tall man is eating. The tall man has a car.
If you want to talk about someone’s features in that same sentence, we need to use the preposition with. We could say The man with glasses is my neighbor. Any of the other features can go into that same slot:
The man with [FEATURE] is my neighbor.
The man with red hair is my neighbor. The man with a mustache is my neighbor.
When we want to talk about clothes, we need another preposition. Instead of with, we use in. The man in the blue shirt is my neighbor. Any of the clothing vocabulary above can go into that same slot:
The man in [CLOTHES] is my neighbor.
The man in the tie is my neighbor. The man in the grey pants is my neighbor. The woman in the red hat is my neighbor.
Wrap-Up
That’s it! Study these six sentence frames and the vocabulary, and you can now make hundreds of new sentences to describe people! Check back soon and we’ll have a quiz to check what you have learned!
Rob Sheppard is the founder and Chief Executive Teacher at Ginseng. Over the past ten years, he has taught English in Taiwan, South Korea, and his hometown of Boston. Now he teaches online at Ginseng while traveling the world.