- This article is about terms applied to people. For terms used for the United States as a nation-state, see List of terms for the United States of America.
There are a number of alternative adjectives to American as a demonym for a person of the United States that can not simultaneously mean any inhabitant of the Americas. The most widely used and recognised term in English for a person of the United States is "American". Other terms were used historically, and some modern attempts have been made to develop different terms for political or humorous reasons. The use of American as a national demonym for United States citizens has been challenged primarily by Latin Americans (and Canadians prior to 1867) since 1816 or earlier [1]. Some, mostly outside of the United States, perceive use of the word America for the United States of America as culturally aggressive as others use the word to refer to the entirety of the New World, though residents of what would become and what is the United States of America have been using the adjectives America and American to describe themselves since colonial times.
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Pejoratives
The best-known alternative words for people of the United States in English are understood to be pejorative and may also be ambiguous:
- Amerikan
- Gringo (It should be noted that this term is not always pejorative)
- Yankee
- Yanqui
- Seppo (in Australia) or Septic (in Britain), both from Yank via Cockney rhyming slang
- Uhmerikun, Merkin (OED Draft Entry, 2002) or Murkun (mocking regional pronunciation)
Alternative terms in English
- Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.
One colonial adjective was Virginian, since Virginia was the mother of colonies and states. Virginia as a toponym, originally extended all along the Eastern Seaboard. Other regions like New England and the Mid-Atlantic emerged as splinter collectives from joint stock administration in the Virginia Company. New England was originally called "northern Virginia", especially in transport manifests for colonists. Economic divergence stimulated separated identities, especially since the London (based at Fort James) and Plymouth (based at Fort Saint George) companies were divided by the Dutch and Swedish Middle Colonies. Alternative demonyms proposed for U.S. citizens are:
- from America:
- Americanite
- Americian
- Amerikean (see Richard Amerike)
- from Columbia:
- Columbian
- Columbard
- from United States [of America]:
- Unitedstatesean
- Stater
- Statesider
- Uesican (pronounced [juˈɛsɪkən]) or Uessian (pronounced [juˈɛsiən])
- Unisan or Unisian
- Unitizen, Statizen
- Unionist
- United States American, United Stater, United Stateser, United Statesian, United Statesman, or United Statian
- USAian, U.S. American, Usan, USAn, Usanian, Usian (pronounced [ˈjuʒən]), U-S-ian, or Usonian (pronounced [juˈsoʊniən])
- others:
- American-National
- Appalacian - from the geographical region of Appalachia
- Colonican
- Eagle (from the national bird, compare to Kiwi for a New Zealander)
- Frede or Fredonian - presumably by identification with freedom [2].
- Johnny (from Brother Jonathan)
- Leftpondian - as it's on the left side of the pond. Frequently used on newsgroups, e.g. alt.usage.english.
- Nacirema (backwards spelling of "American" used in a satire of sociology by anthropologist Horace Mitchell Miner, "Body Ritual among the Nacirema")
- Realtor (proposed by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. in Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons)
- Sam (from Uncle Sam)
- Washingtonian - from George Washington, Washington state or Washington, D.C.
- Yank (see the movie, the former army periodical, and the lyrics of Over There for the rehabilitation of this sometimes pejorative term)
Although there might be good arguments in favor of some of these terms, "American" remains by far the most common word for a citizen of the USA. "Usonian" is used for an architectural style, and "Washingtonian" remains as the adjective for the state of Washington and the city of Washington, D.C. "Columbian", derived from the original popular name for the United States, Columbia, would likely cause unacceptable confusion with "Colombian", which today relates to the modern Republic of Colombia. Colombia, like America, historically referred to the New World as a whole.
Other languages
In Spanish, the term 'American' is more ambiguous.
- Norteamericano (Spanish for "North American") is common in Latin America, but suffers from the same kind of ambiguity as "American", since Canadians and Mexicans, amongst others, are also North Americans. For that reason, estadounidense is also frequently used and tends to be preferred in formal language, as in dólar estadounidense ("U.S. dollar").
- In Portuguese, norte-americano is the most commonly used term. Estadunidense is gaining some popularity, specifically in Brazil, where its usage traditionally rises during times of tension with the USA.
- The Esperanto term for the United States of America is Usono. This is generally thought to come from "Usonia". In Esperanto, one forms the word for a citizen of a given country using the suffix "-an" which means "member of". Therefore a citizen of the United States is usonano. (Such derived words are not capitalized.) Esperanto terms for the American geographic regions and their people are Ameriko/amerikano, Norda Ameriko/nordamerikano, Meza Ameriko/mezamerikano, and Suda Ameriko/sudamerikano.
- In French, États-Unien(ne), Étatsunien(ne) or Étasunien(ne) are occasionally used, but considered pedantic in speech.
- In Italian the term Statunitense (from Stati Uniti, United States) is widely used.
- In German, US-Amerikaner may be used to avoid ambiguity or to be politically correct, but it may come across as pedantic if used conversationally. Amerikaner is in general usage in Germany, and is widely accepted to refer to the United States. Ami is a colloquialism which unambiguously refers to U.S. citizens. The German usage of Ami is akin to the Mexican usage of Gringo, in that it can be neutral, patronizing, or perhaps even affectionate.
- Pindos (or Pindosian) was born during UN operation in Kosovo. The initiators of this were Russian troops at Kosovo airport in Pristina. In some Southern Russian dialects pindos is a derogatory term for Greeks. Some reports indicate that its use has spread beyond Russian troops and that its meaning has likewise spread, to refer not only to soldiers.
See also
References
(Draft Entry, June 2002) Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
