alumnus

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin alumnus (“foster child, nourished one”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈlʌmnəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

alumnus (plural alumni or alumnuses)

1. A male pupil or student.
2. A male graduate.
3. A student of any gender.
4. A graduate of any gender.

Usage notes

• Even when the -us/-a gender distinction is operative, alumnus is used when the gender of the subject is unspecified:

Any alumnus may be invited to the reunion.

Synonyms

• (of any gender): alum or alumn, alumni (often proscribed), alumnx

Coordinate terms

• (male): alumna (female)

Derived terms

• alumni association

Related terms

• alumnae/alumnæ
• alum
• alma mater
• alimony
• alimentary

Translations

a male pupil or student

• Arabic: طَالِب (ar) m (ṭālib), طَلَبَة m pl (ṭalaba)
• Bulgarian: питомник (pitomnik)
• Czech: žák (cs) m, student (cs) m
• Finnish: miespuolinen opiskelija
• French: étudiant (fr) m, élève (fr) m
• Galician: universitario (gl) m
• German: Student (de) m
• Korean: 남학생 (ko) (namhaksaeng)
• Malay: alumni
• Persian: دانش‌آموز (fa), دانشجو (fa)
• Portuguese: aluno (pt) m
• Russian: учени́к (ru) m (učeník), студе́нт (ru) m (studént)
• Spanish: alumno (es)

a male graduate

• Arabic: خِرِّيج m (ḵirrīj), خِرِّيجُون m pl (ḵirrījūn)
• Armenian: սան (hy) (san)
• Bulgarian: възпитаник (bg) (vǎzpitanik)
• Czech: absolvent (cs) m
• Finnish: miespuolinen alumni
• French: diplômé (fr) m, ancien élève
• German: Absolvent (de) m, Ehemaliger m
• Persian: فارغ‌التحصیل (fa)
• Polish: alumn m
• Portuguese: diplomado m, graduado (pt) m, egresso (pt) m
• Russian: выпускни́к (ru) m (vypuskník)
• Spanish: exalumno, egresado (es)

a student

• Arabic: طَالِب (ar) m (ṭālib), طَالِبَة f (ṭāliba), طَلَبَة m pl (ṭalaba), طَالِبَات f pl (ṭālibāt)
• Czech: student (cs) m, studentka (cs) f
• Finnish: opiskelija (fi)
• French: étudiant (fr) m, étudiante (fr) f
• German: Student (de)
• Portuguese: aluno (pt) m
• Swedish: student (sv) c, studenter (sv) pl

a graduate

• Arabic: خِرِّيج m (ḵirrīj), خِرِّيجَة f (ḵirrīja), خِرِّيجُون m pl (ḵirrījūn), خِرِّيجَات f pl (ḵirrījāt)
• Czech: absolvent (cs) m, absolventka f
• Finnish: valmistunut opiskelija, alumni (fi)
• French: diplômé (fr) m, diplômée (fr) f
• Japanese: 卒業生 (ja) (sotsugyōsei)
• Swedish: alumn (sv) c, alumner (sv) c pl
• Thai: ศิษย์เก่า (th) (sìt-gào)

Indonesian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin alumnus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈalʊmnʊs]
• Hyphenation: alum‧nus

Noun

alumnus (first-person possessive alumnusku, second-person possessive alumnusmu, third-person possessive alumnusnya)

1. alumnus.

Alternative forms

• alumni

Further reading

• “alumnus” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alumnus.

Noun

alumnus m

1. alumnus (a graduate)

   Synonym: alunno

Latin

Etymology

• From Proto-Italic *alomanos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-o-mh₁no- (“being nourished”), mediopassive participle (see *-mh₁nos) of *h₂el- (“to nourish, grow”) (whence alō).
• Alternatively from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to nourish, grow”) + *-mno- (see *-mn̥).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aˈlum.nus/, [äˈɫ̪ʊmnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈlum.nus/, [äˈlumnus]

Adjective

alumnus (feminine alumna, neuter alumnum); first/second-declension adjective

1. Nourished, fostered, etc.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	alumnus	alumna	alumnum		alumnī	alumnae	alumna
genitive	alumnī	alumnae	alumnī		alumnōrum	alumnārum	alumnōrum
dative	alumnō	alumnae	alumnō		alumnīs
accusative	alumnum	alumnam	alumnum		alumnōs	alumnās	alumna
ablative	alumnō	alumnā	alumnō		alumnīs
vocative	alumne	alumna	alumnum		alumnī	alumnae	alumna

Noun

alumnus m (genitive alumnī, feminine alumna); second declension

1. nursling, pupil
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.151–152:

     pervenit ad Cranēn et rem docet, illa ‘timōrem
     pōne: tuus sospes’ dīxit ‘alumnus erit.’

     She comes to Cranê and tells her what has happened; [and to] that, Cranê replies: “Put fear aside; your nursling will be unharmed.”
     (A nurse-maid summons Cranê’s aid because a baby has been attacked by striges; however, Ovid in these verses conflates names and mythologies: see Cardea.)

2. foster son.
3. student, follower

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	alumnus	alumnī
genitive	alumnī	alumnōrum
dative	alumnō	alumnīs
accusative	alumnum	alumnōs
ablative	alumnō	alumnīs
vocative	alumne	alumnī

Descendants

• English: alumnus
• Catalan: alumne
• Italian: alunno
• Portuguese: aluno
• Romanian: alumn
• Spanish: alumno

References

• “alumnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “alumnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• alumnus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• alumnus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.