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Snarf Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary

Alumni

I read and hear "alumni" used in the singular a lot; for example, "I'm an alumni at that university." But isn't that wrong, since that's a plural word? Shouldn't it be "alumnus"?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

` Male - alumnus Female - alumna Plural - alumni Rover

— Rover_KE

  • ` Male - alumnus Female - alumna Plural - alumni Rover
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9 Answers
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Male - alumnus

Female - alumna

Plural - alumni

Rover
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Oh, cool! I've never heard the word "alumna" before.
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A lot of people use the word alumni incorrectly. Most native speakers do not realized that alumni is a plural masculine word. If you are non-native, you have a lot of native speakers beat.
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MeathawkA lot of people use the word alumni incorrectly. Most native speakers do not realized that alumni is a plural masculine word. If you are non-native, you have a lot of native speakers beat.
No, I'm a native speaker, but I see and hear that error a lot! So you're saying that it's plural masculine. Does that mean that there's a plural feminine as w
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And in referring to a bunch of people, both male and female, is "alumni" what is right, given it is standard, or should it be "alumni and alumnae" to be technically correct?
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Alumnus and its various versions are basically a feature of American English. In other countries, the term 'a graduate' is often used.

Clive
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Clive is right. Graduate would be the best word to describe both, but informally, you can use alum as well.
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SnarfAnd in referring to a bunch of people, both male and female, is "alumni" what is right, given it is standard, or should it be "alumni and alumnae" to be technically correct?
Assuming Latin follows the rule that all Romance languages do (a pretty good assumption!), alumni would be used for groups of men and of mixed gender; alumnae would be u
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