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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

American

/əˈmɛɹɪkən/
A citizen or national of the United States of America.

    Etymology graph

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    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
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    Origin

    From America + -n. Compare New Latin amerī̆canus.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • partEnglishAmerica “A supercontinent consisting of North America, Central America and South America regarded as a whole…”
      • learned borrowingNew LatinAmerica
        • derivedItalianAmerigo
          • derivedProto-Germanic*Amalarīks
            • derivedProto-Germanic*amalą “vigor, bravery”
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*h₃emh₃- “to grasp, seize; to take hold; to touch; etc.”
            • derivedProto-Germanic*rīks “king, ruler”
              • borrowedProto-Celtic*rīxs “king”
                • inheritedProto-Indo-European*h₃rḗǵs “ruler, king”
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*h₃rḗǵs “ruler, king”
              • derivedProto-Celtic*rīxs “king”
          • derivedProto-Germanic*Haimarīks
            • derivedProto-Germanic*haimaz “village, home”
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*ḱóymos “village”
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*ḱey- “to settle, be lying down”
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*-mos
    • derivedParaguayan Guarani[Term?]
    • partEnglish-n “belonging to”
      • inheritedMiddle English-n

    Related: New Latin amerī̆canus

    Words built on it: Can-Am, all-American

    Meanings

    noun
    1. A citizen or national of the United States of America.
    2. Any inhabitant of the Americas.
    3. A citizen or inhabitant of British America.
    4. An indigenous inhabitant of the Americas.
    5. An inhabitant of French or Spanish New World colonies.
    6. The dialect of English spoken in and around the contiguous United States of America.
    adj
    1. Of, from, or pertaining to the United States of America, its people, or its culture.
    2. Of, from, or pertaining to the Americas.
    3. Of, from, or pertaining to British North America.
    4. Of, from, or pertaining to the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas.
    5. Able to be exercised on any date between its issue and expiry.
    name
    1. A township in Allen County, Ohio, United States.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: American