Alumna vs. alumni, alumnus, and alumnae: What’s the difference?

The origin of alumna, alumnus, alumnae, alumni

The English language sometimes pulls words from other languages, like Spanish, French, and Latin. In this case, alumna, alumnus, alumnae, and alumni all derive from the Latin word meaning “the pupil or graduate of a school.” The prefix al- is Latin for “to feed, nourish, bring up, or increase.” So, when you’re using one of these words to celebrate a graduate, you’re describing how the school or program nourished them and helped them grow.

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The differences between the words

Even though you know a little about the origin of the words, you still have four options to choose from. There are two factors that distinguish each of the words: gender and singularity. Like other languages that follow grammatical gendering, some words are spelled differently based on whether or not the noun is feminine or masculine.

Alumna and alumnae are used to describe feminine nouns, like female graduates. Alumnus and alumni are used to describe masculine nouns, like male graduates. Alumni may also be used to describe groups of graduates that contain males and females.

Another factor you can use to distinguish the meanings of these words is to consider whether you’re talking about one graduate or multiple graduates. If you’re talking about one female graduate, you should use alumna. However, you’ll use alumnae when describing two or more female graduates.

The same concept can be applied to describing male graduates. Use alumnus to describe one male graduate and alumni to describe two or more male graduates. If you have a group of graduates that contains males and females, use alumni to describe them.

How to use alumna vs. alumnae in a sentence

Some examples of how you can use alumna vs. alumnae are:

• His granddaughter is an alumna of the school I went to.

In this sentence, you would use alumna because he only has one granddaughter.

• The women are alumnae of the university.

Because women is a plural and feminine noun, alumnae should be used here.

• I’m an alumna of the ABC School, but my sisters are alumnae of XYZ School.

The subject/noun of the first part of this sentence is singular, so you know you would use alumna or alumnus. However, because this example uses alumna, you can infer that the subject is a female graduate. The second part of the sentence uses alumnae to describe the plural sisters.

How to use alumnus vs. alumni in a sentence

Some examples of how you can use alumnus vs. alumni are:

• The school recognized him as a top alumnus in his graduating class.

In this example, the school recognized a single male graduate, so you would use alumnus.

• He and his cousins are alumni of the same school.

Because you know there’s at least one male graduate in this group, you should use alumni to describe them. It’s important to know that his cousins could refer to all males or to a mixture of male and female cousins. The sentence doesn’t provide enough context to know for sure, but even when there’s a mix of male and female graduates, you should refer to them as alumni.

Now that you know the difference between alumnus vs. alumna, alumnae, and alumni, you’ll be able to celebrate any graduate you meet. The English language can be complex and confusing because there are words, like homophones, that have the same pronunciation but different meanings. There are also words that are pronounced differently but have similar meanings, like bare and bear. But you can write clearly by learning what these different words mean and how to properly use them.