Etymology

American

A1M3E1R1I1C3A1N1

Today it means: A citizen or national of the United States of America. Full definition →

First used 16th c.English America ← New Latin America ← Italian Amerigo
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₃emh₃-
  2. Proto-Germanic*amalą
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₃reǵ-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₃rḗǵs
  5. Proto-Celtic*rīxs
  6. Proto-Germanic*rīks
  7. Proto-Germanic*Amalarīks
  8. Proto-Indo-European*ḱey-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóymos
  10. Proto-Indo-European*teḱ-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*tḱéytibf.
  12. Proto-Indo-European*tḱey-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*tḱóymos
  14. Proto-Germanic*haimaz
  15. Proto-Germanic*rīks
  16. Proto-Germanic*Haimarīksder.?
  17. ItalianAmerigo
  18. New LatinAmerica
  19. EnglishAmerica
  20. English todayAmerican

From America + -n. Compare New Latin amerī̆canus.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 16th c. An indigenous inhabitant of the Americas.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.