student asking question

Doesn't "private" and "personal" are basically the same word? Or do they have some significant changes?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

These two words are very similar in meaning, you are correct! However, there is a difference. Personal means belonging to or affecting a particular person rather than anyone else, whereas private means belonging to one specific person or group of people only. So you can think of it as private only applying to either a group/individual vs. personal only applying to an individual. However, they are used interchangeably quite often. Ex: This is my personal workspace. Ex: I don't like to share my private life with others.

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