What does peoples mean?
Peoples refers to communities of people who share some combination of culture, language, ancestry, history, traditions, or national identity. The word emphasizes the distinctiveness of a community rather than merely counting individuals, so expressions such as Indigenous peoples and peoples of the Arctic are common. It can also function as the ordinary plural of people, although people is the preferred plural in most contexts. In political and historical writing, peoples may denote groups possessing a collective identity or a claim to self-determination. The word should not be confused with population, which primarily means the people living in a particular area, regardless of whether they share an identity. Understanding the distinction helps distinguish a population from peoples understood as culturally or historically distinct communities.
A community or group of people regarded as sharing a common cultural, ethnic, linguistic, or national identity.
"The treaty recognized the rights of the region's indigenous peoples."
Usually appears with a modifier identifying the group, such as indigenous, native, or minority peoples.
The plural form of people, especially when referring collectively to human beings.
"Peoples from every continent contributed to the exhibition."
People is normally preferred as the plural of person or people; peoples is chiefly used in the sense of distinct cultural or national groups.
Peoples is already plural. It may function as the plural of people, but the form is chiefly used for distinct ethnic, cultural, or national communities.
"The conference brought together peoples from many different regions."
A single person may belong to many overlapping communities, but a people usually shares a distinct cultural or national identity.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of peoples
The form peoples ultimately derives from people, which comes through Old French from Latin populus, meaning “a people” or “population.” The modern form peoples developed with a plural ending, while the related word popular preserved the sense of concerning or approved by the people. The noun people has long referred both to human beings collectively and to particular communities.
Related word forms
How peoples is actually used
When it denotes distinct cultural or ethnic communities, peoples is normally used with a modifier, as in Indigenous peoples or Native peoples. The plural of people is usually people rather than peoples.