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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

American.

A citizen or national of the United States of America.

8 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/əˈmɛɹɪkən/British, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard/əˈmɛɹɪkən/Canada, General-American/əˈmɛɹəkən/Canada, General-American/əˈmɛɹkən/Canada, General-American

  1. A citizen or national of the United States of America.

    countable · uncountable
    Roughly two-thirds of Americans default to the General American accent, with other dialects like Southern, AAVE, and Chicano usually being considered lower prestige outside of entertainment and politics.

  2. Any inhabitant of the Americas.

    countable · uncountable

  3. A citizen or inhabitant of British America.

    countable · historical · uncountable

  4. An indigenous inhabitant of the Americas.

    archaic · countable · uncountable

  5. An inhabitant of French or Spanish New World colonies.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable

  6. The dialect of English spoken in and around the contiguous United States of America.

    colloquial · countable · humorous · informal · uncountable

  7. Clipping of American cheese.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · uncountable
    Q: What kinds of cheese do you have? A: We have American, Swiss, cheddar, provolone, or wiz.

  8. Ellipsis of American cockroach.

    abbreviation · alt-of · countable · ellipsis · uncountable

  9. A steam locomotive of the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement.

    countable · uncountable

  10. A size of type smaller than German, 1-point type.

    US · dated · rare · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- Proto-Germanic *amalą Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs Proto-Celtic *rīxsbor. Proto-Germanic *rīks Proto-Germanic *Amalarīksder. Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *tḱéytibf. Proto-Indo-European *tḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos Proto-Germanic *haimaz ▲ Proto-Germanic *rīks Proto-Germanic *Haimarīksder.? Italian Amerigoder. New Latin Americalbor. English America Middle English -n English -n English American From America + -n. Compare New Latin amerī̆canus.

adj/əˈmɛɹɪkən/British, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard/əˈmɛɹɪkən/Canada, General-American/əˈmɛɹəkən/Canada, General-American/əˈmɛɹkən/Canada, General-American

  1. Of, from, or pertaining to the United States of America, its people, or its culture.

    He married an American woman in order to get an American passport.
    Thanksgiving is an American tradition.

  2. Of, from, or pertaining to the Americas.

    uncommon
    This is pure American powder from the foothills of Colombia.

  3. Of, from, or pertaining to British North America.

    historical

  4. Of, from, or pertaining to the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas.

    archaic

  5. Able to be exercised on any date between its issue and expiry.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- Proto-Germanic *amalą Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs Proto-Celtic *rīxsbor. Proto-Germanic *rīks Proto-Germanic *Amalarīksder. Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *tḱéytibf. Proto-Indo-European *tḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos Proto-Germanic *haimaz ▲ Proto-Germanic *rīks Proto-Germanic *Haimarīksder.? Italian Amerigoder. New Latin Americalbor. English America Middle English -n English -n English American From America + -n. Compare New Latin amerī̆canus.

name/əˈmɛɹɪkən/British, Received-Pronunciation, Southern, Standard/əˈmɛɹɪkən/Canada, General-American/əˈmɛɹəkən/Canada, General-American/əˈmɛɹkən/Canada, General-American

  1. A township in Allen County, Ohio, United States.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- Proto-Germanic *amalą Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs Proto-Celtic *rīxsbor. Proto-Germanic *rīks Proto-Germanic *Amalarīksder. Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *tḱéytibf. Proto-Indo-European *tḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos Proto-Germanic *haimaz ▲ Proto-Germanic *rīks Proto-Germanic *Haimarīksder.? Italian Amerigoder. New Latin Americalbor. English America Middle English -n English -n English American From America + -n. Compare New Latin amerī̆canus.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.