nation, people, race

people, masses, crowd, throng, mob

名詞 people:

1. (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively
2. the body of citizens of a state or country
   同義詞：citizenry
3. the common people generally
   同義詞：multitude, masses, mass, hoi polloi, the great unwashed
4. members of a family line

動詞 people:

1. fill with people or supply with inhabitants
   同義詞：populate
2. furnish with people
   同義詞：populate

1. People do not know the value of health till they lose it.
   直到失去健康，人們才知道健康的可貴。
2. She's spending Christmas with her people.
   她與親人一起過圣誕節(jié)。
3. Were there many people at the meeting?
   集會有很多人嗎？

peo.ple

n.（名詞）
【復(fù)數(shù)】 people
Human beings considered as a group or in indefinite numbers:
人類：被看做整體或不定數(shù)量的人類：
例句：
People were dancing in the street. I met all sorts of people.
人們在街上跳舞。我遇到了各種各樣的人

A body of persons living in the same country under one national government; a nationality.
同胞：住在同一國家、受同一政府管轄的一些人；民族
pl. peo.ples A body of persons sharing a common religion, culture, language, or inherited condition of life.
【復(fù)數(shù)】 peo.ples 民族：有共同的宗教信仰、文化、語言或繼承同一種生活條件的人的群體
Persons with regard to their residence, class, profession, or group:
同類人：由于同樣的居住地、階級、職業(yè)或群體而聯(lián)系在一起的人：
例句：
city people.
城市人

The mass of ordinary persons; the populace. Used withthe :
大眾：平凡人的群體；大眾。與the 連用：
例句：
.those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes.(Thomas Jefferson)
.那些害怕且不信任群眾的人，想把所有的權(quán)力都集中到上層階級手上.(托馬斯·杰弗遜)

The citizens of a political unit, such as a nation or a state; the electorate. Used withthe.
公民：某政治團(tuán)體例如一個民族或一個國家的成員；選民。與the 連用
Persons subordinate to or loyal to a ruler, a superior, or an employer:
臣民：受轄制或忠誠于其某一統(tǒng)治者、上司或雇主的人：
例句：
The queen showed great compassion for her people.
女王對她的臣民很仁慈

Family, relatives, or ancestors.
家人，親戚，祖先
Informal Animals or other beings distinct from human beings:
【非正式用語】 動物：明顯區(qū)別于人類的動物或其他生靈：
例句：
Rabbits and squirrels are the furry, little people of the woods.
兔子和松鼠是森林中毛茸茸的小生靈

v.tr.（及物動詞）
peo.pled,peo.pling,peo.ples
To furnish with or as if with people; populate.
繁衍：分布或似乎分布著人；居住

來源：
Middle English peple
中古英語 peple
from Old French pueple
源自 古法語 pueple
from Latin populus
源自 拉丁語 populus
[of Etruscan origin]
[源于伊特魯里亞語]

【引伸】
peo.pler
n.（名詞）
Used as a pluralpeople is a form with no exactly corresponding singular. (English is not odd in this respect:the equivalent word is anomalous in Spanish, Italian, Russian, and many other languages.)In the past, grammarians have sometimes insisted thatpeople is a collective noun that should not be used as a substitute forpersons when referring to a specific number of individuals, as inSix people were arrested. Butpeople has always been used in such contexts, and the distinction is now so widely ignored in general writingthat it seems pedantic to insist on it.Persons is still preferred in quasilegal contexts, however, as inVehicles containing fewer than three persons may not use the left lane during rush hours. Only the singularperson is used in compounds involving a specific numeral:
People 用做復(fù)數(shù)時無確切的單數(shù)形式。 （在此方面英語是不固定的：在西班牙語、意大利語和許多其它語言中相應(yīng)的詞是不規(guī)則的。）過去，語法學(xué)家曾堅持說people 是集合名詞， 不能替代描述特定數(shù)量個體的persons ， 如在六個人被捕了 中。 但是people 常用在這樣的上下文中， 其區(qū)別在一般的書面語中被大大忽略了，再堅持其區(qū)別則顯得多余。Persons 仍多被用在法律性的語境中， 例如在交通高峰期容納少于三個人的汽車不允許使用左單行道。 只有單數(shù)person 用在與具體數(shù)目有關(guān)的復(fù)合詞中：
例句：
a six-person car;
六人汽車；

例句：
a two-person show.
二人演出。

Butpeople is used in other compounds: people mover; people power. These examples are exceptions to the general rule that plural nouns cannot be used in such compounds;note that we do not sayteethpaste or books-burning. See Usage Note at man
但people 也可用在其它復(fù)合詞中： people mover；people power。 這些例子是復(fù)數(shù)名詞不能用于復(fù)合詞的規(guī)則的例外情況；請注意我們不能說teethpaste 或 books-burning。 參見 man