Alumni

For the film, see Alumni (film). For the Argentine football team, see Alumni Athletic Club. For the Argentine rugby union team, see Asociación Alumni.
The Latin noun alumnus means "foster son" or "pupil" and is derived from the verb alere "to nourish". B Pictured: Lorado Taft's Alma Mater in Urbana, Illinois.

Alumni (sg.: alumnus (MASC) or alumna (FEM)) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (sg.: alum) or alumns (sg.: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. The word comes from Latin, meaning nurslings, pupils or foster children, derived from alere "to nourish".[1]

The term is not synonymous with "graduates": people can be alumni without graduating, e.g. Burt Reynolds was an alumnus of Florida State University but did not graduate. The term is sometimes used to refer to former employees, former members of an organization, former contributors, or former inmates.[2][3][4]

  1. ^ "Alumnus". Collins dictionary. Retrieved 4 December 2023. C17: from Latin: nursling, pupil, foster son, from alere to nourish
  2. ^ "The State Of Corporate Alumni : 2017 Survey Results". EnterpriseAlumni. 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2018-10-29.
  3. ^ "Alumni – Definition from the Free Merriam Webster Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com. 2010-08-13. Retrieved 2011-02-15. 1: A person who has attended or has graduated from a particular school, college, or university. 2: a person who is a former member, employee, contributor, or inmate
  4. ^ "Alumnus – definition of alumnus by Macmillan dictionary". Macmillandictionary.com. Retrieved 2011-02-15. Someone who was a student at a particular school, college, or university