american
n.a person who comes from or lives in the United States. It can also describe someone from North or South America, though this is less common in everyday English.
n.a citizen or inhabitant of the United States of America; less commonly, a native or inhabitant of the North or South American continents.
“My new neighbor is an American from Chicago.”
“The museum exhibit features several famous Americans who changed the course of modern history.”
Capitalized in all contexts. When used to refer to the continents rather than the country, it is often preceded by 'North' or 'South' for clarity.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- Proto-Germanic *amalą Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs Proto-Celtic *rīxsbor. Proto-Germanic *rīks Proto-Germanic *Amalarīksder. Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos Proto-Germanic *haimaz ▲ Proto-Germanic *rīks Proto-Germanic *Haimarīksder.? Italian Amerigoder. New Latin Americalbor. English America Middle English -n English -n English American From America + -n. compare Latin amerī̆canus.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.