# American

Pronunciation: US say "uh-MER-i-kuhn" /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kən/; UK say "uh-MAIR-i-kuhn" /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kən/

## Adjective

1. Belonging to or connected with the United States, its people, or its culture.
   - Simple: From the United States, or having to do with its people or way of life.
   - _American films dominate box offices around the world._
   - _She traded her German sedan for an American pickup truck._
3. Of, from, or pertaining to the Americas, the continents of North and South America.
   - Simple: From North or South America, or having to do with the people and places there.
   - _The jaguar is an American cat, ranging from the southwestern United States to Argentina._
   - _American crops such as potatoes and tomatoes transformed diets across Europe and Asia._
9. Of, from, or pertaining to British North America, Britain's colonies on the North American continent.
   - Simple: Having to do with the British colonies in North America, before the United States existed.
   - _American merchants shipped timber and tobacco to ports across the Atlantic._
   - _The American colonies bristled at taxes imposed from Westminster._

## Noun

2. A person with US citizenship or US national status.
   - Simple: A person who is a citizen of the United States.
   - _She became an American at a naturalization ceremony in Chicago._
   - _Millions of Americans live and work outside the United States._
4. Any inhabitant of the Americas, whether of North or South America.
   - Simple: Any person who lives in North or South America.
   - _To a mapmaker, a Chilean is as much an American as a Texan._
   - _The summit gathered Americans from twenty countries across both continents._
5. A mild processed cheese, especially in single slices; short for American cheese.
   - Simple: A soft, mild cheese that melts well, often sold in thin slices.
   - _He ordered the burger with American instead of cheddar._
   - _The deli melts American over the patty unless you ask for provolone._
6. The English language as spoken in the United States, informally treated as a language of its own. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The English spoken in the United States, talked about as if it were a separate language.
   - _The guidebook translates common British phrases into American for travelers._
   - _After five years in Texas, his American was flawless, right down to the drawl._
10. A citizen or inhabitant of British America, the British colonies that preceded the United States.
   - Simple: A person who lived in the British colonies in America before the United States existed.
   - _The Americans petitioned the Crown for relief from the new duties._
   - _Every American in Boston felt the weight of the port's closure._

## Adjective

7. Connected with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, or coming from them. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Having to do with the native peoples of North and South America.
   - _The colonists relied on American knowledge of local plants, taught to them by native guides._
   - _The museum displays American featherwork made centuries before European contact._

## Noun

8. An indigenous inhabitant of the Americas; a member of its native peoples. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A person from one of the native peoples of North or South America.
   - _Colonial traders exchanged iron goods with the Americans along the river._
   - _In his 1492 journal, Columbus described an American who traded parrots and cotton thread for glass beads._
11. An inhabitant of the French or Spanish colonies in the New World. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person who lived in the lands ruled by France or Spain in the Americas long ago.
   - _Wealthy Americans from Saint-Domingue kept townhouses in the port of Bordeaux._
   - _An American from New Spain might cross the ocean to Cadiz only once in his life._
12. A size of printing type smaller than the size called German; one-point type. *(dated, US)*
   - Simple: A very small size of letters once used in printing.
   - _In the old printers' tables, American is the smallest named size of type, just below German._
   - _Type as small as American was a curiosity of the scale rather than something printers set text in._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Of an option: able to be exercised on any date between its issue and its expiry.
- (noun) A steam locomotive of the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, with four leading wheels and four driving wheels.

## Origin

Formed from America plus the suffix -n; the place name America itself derives via New Latin from the Italian name Amerigo.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/american (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).