Alumni

The word comes from Latin, meaning nurslings, pupils or foster children, derived from alere "to nourish".

[5] Separate, but from the same root, is the adjective almus "nourishing", found in the phrase alma mater, a title for a person's home university.

[9] According to John Boswell, the word "is nowhere defined in relation to status, privilege, or obligation.

"[10] Citing the research of Henri Leclercq, Teresa Nani, and Beryl Rawson, who studied the many inscriptions about alumni, Boswell concluded that it referred to exposed children who were taken into a household where they were "regarded as somewhere between an heir and a slave, partaking in different ways of both categories."

[12] According to the United States Department of Education, the term alumnae is used in conjunction with either women's colleges[13] or a female group of students.

[19] In British English, the terms "old boy" or "old girl" are often preferred for a former pupil of a primary or secondary school, while universities refer to their former students as alumni.