Alumnus, Alumna, Alumni

The words alumnus, alumna and alumni are often confused.

A male graduate is an alumnUS, a female graduate is an alumnA. Alumni is the plural of alumnus and means male graduates or a mixture of both male and female graduates. Alumnae is the plural of alumna and means female graduates. Examples:

• My father is an alumnus of UCLA.
• My mother is an alumna of UCLA.
• My parents are alumni of the same school.
• My sisters are both alumnae of Atherton high school.

Hint

-us is usually an ending of masculine names and words, such as Cassius, Jesus and alumnus; -a is usually an ending of feminine names and words, such as alma, Anna, Sophia, alumna, etc.

Source: Reader’s Digest Family Word Finder