Alumni

How to spell alumni

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce alumni

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does alumni mean?

1. nounFormer students or graduates of a particular school, college, or university, considered as a group.

Alumni in a sentence

• The university invited its alumni to a reunion dinner in the autumn.

• Donations from wealthy alumni funded the new science building.

Where does alumni come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes straight from Latin, where alumnus meant a foster son, a pupil, or a nursling, literally someone who is being nourished or brought up. It was formed from the verb alere, meaning 'to nourish' or 'to feed', the same root that gives us 'aliment' (nourishment) and even 'alimony'. The plural of alumnus in Latin is alumni, and English adopted both forms wholesale in the 1640s for those who had been educated at a particular school or college. Because the word kept its Latin plural rather than adding an English '-s', the ending '-i' (not '-ies' or '-uses') is the spelling people must remember. The related female forms alumna (singular) and alumnae (plural) follow the same Latin pattern, which is why the family of words can feel confusing in writing.

How the word is built

• alumn- (from alumnus: foster son, pupil, nursling)
• -i (Latin masculine plural suffix)