citizen

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community

Etymology

From Middle English citeseyn, citezein, borrowed from Anglo-Norman citesain (“burgher; city-dweller”), citezein, etc., probably a variant of cithein under influence of deinzein (“denizen”), from Anglo-Norman and Old French citeain, etc. and citaien, citeien, etc. ("burgher"; modern French citoyen), from cité ("settlement; cathedral city, city"; modern French cité) + -ain or -ien (“-an, -ian”). See city and hewe. Displaced native Old English burgwaras (plural form).

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