Civilian

How to spell civilian

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce civilian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does civilian mean?

1. nounA person who is not a member of the armed forces or the police.
2. adjectiveRelating to ordinary citizens rather than to the armed forces or police.

Civilian in a sentence

• noun

  The soldier returned to ordinary life as a civilian after his discharge.

• adjective

  After retiring from the navy he took a civilian job at the shipyard.

• noun

  The report counted every civilian caught up in the conflict.

• adjective

  The airport handles both military and civilian flights.

Where does civilian come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin civilis, meaning 'relating to citizens' or 'befitting a citizen', which was built on civis, the Latin word for a 'citizen' or member of a community. The same civis root sits behind a whole family of familiar English words, including civic, city, civilise and civilisation, all of which circle around the idea of organised community life. English took 'civilian' from Old French in the late 1300s, where it first described someone learned in civil law, as opposed to canon or church law. Over the centuries the meaning broadened, and by the early 1800s it had settled into its modern sense of an ordinary person who is not a member of the armed forces or the police. The spelling keeps the single 'l' of civil and adds the common '-ian' ending, which is exactly where writers slip, sometimes doubling the 'l' or writing '-ion' instead.

How the word is built

• civil (from Latin civilis: of citizens)
• -ian (suffix forming a noun or adjective meaning 'a person belonging to or relating to')