Wordul · all words

noun · 3 syllables · /'eɪ.li.ən/

ALIEN

What does "ALIEN" mean?

A being from another world, or a person who is a foreigner or outsider.

Meanings

  1. A hypothetical or fictional being from another planet. The film imagines aliens who communicate only in music.
  2. A person who is not a citizen of the country where they live; a foreigner. The form asked whether he was a resident alien. formal
  3. Unfamiliar, foreign, or contrary to one's nature. Cruelty was alien to her gentle temperament.

Did you know?

  • 'Alien' meant a human foreigner for centuries before it meant a being from space; it shares the Latin root 'alius' (other) with 'alias' and 'alibi'.

Word origin

From Latin 'alienus' (belonging to another, foreign), from 'alius' (other); via Old French into English, long before any space-faring sense.

Remember it

ALIEN contains 'A LIE' - and an outsider is someone whose truth feels foreign to you.

A little poem

Not green, not from the stars-
just the new face at the table,
speaking a grammar the room forgot.

tercet

Wordplay

  • The immigration officer asked if I was an alien. I said only in the legal sense - my spaceship's just a very old sedan.

What it teaches

Everyone is an alien somewhere; 'other' is not a fact about a person, only a fact about which door they entered.

Quick facts

What does ALIEN mean?

A being from another world, or a person who is a foreigner or outsider.

Is ALIEN a valid word?

Yes — ALIEN is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.

How many letters is ALIEN?

ALIEN has 5 letters and 3 syllables.

Where does ALIEN come from?

From Latin 'alienus' (belonging to another, foreign), from 'alius' (other); via Old French into English, long before any space-faring sense.

What can ALIEN teach us?

Everyone is an alien somewhere; 'other' is not a fact about a person, only a fact about which door they entered.

How players do

Be the first to solve it.

Play today's Wordul →