American

How to spell american

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce american

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does american mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to America, especially the United States, or to its people and culture.
2. nounA native or citizen of America, especially of the United States.

American in a sentence

• adjective

  The company adopted an american management style after the merger.

• noun

  As an american living abroad, he files taxes in two countries.

• adjective

  She developed a taste for american breakfast food during the trip.

• noun

  The hostel was full of backpackers, including one talkative american from Texas.

Where does american come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the place name America, which itself honours the Italian navigator and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci, who argued in the early 1500s that the lands reached across the Atlantic were a new continent rather than the eastern edge of Asia. The German mapmaker Martin Waldseemueller printed the name 'America' on a map in 1507, using the Latinised form of Vespucci's first name, Americus, and adding the familiar Latin suffix -a that names countries and regions. English then attached the suffix -an, meaning 'belonging to' or 'native of', to produce a word for the people and things of that landmass, a pattern seen in 'African', 'Italian', and 'Mexican'. The term was in use by the late 1500s and gradually narrowed in everyday speech to refer above all to the United States and its citizens. The single hidden trap for spellers is the unstressed middle: writers sometimes drop or double a letter around 'mer-i-can', though the word is otherwise spelled just as it sounds.

How the word is built

• America (from Latin Americus, the Latinised first name of Amerigo Vespucci)
• -an (suffix meaning 'belonging to' or 'native of')