Alumnae and alumni are women and men who have been reared or nourished by their alma mater, their “nourishing mother.” Alumnus, alumna, and alma are all derived from the Latin verb alere, “to nourish.” Alumnus is a masculine noun whose plural is alumni, and alumna is a feminine noun with the plural alumnae. Coeducational institutions usually use alumni for graduates of both sexes. But those who object to masculine forms in such cases prefer to use alumni and alumnae or the form alumnae/i, which is the choice of many women’s colleges that have begun to admit men.
