Universität Rostock - About us - Alumni - What does „alumni“ actually mean?

The term alumnus comes from Latin and means pupil or foster son. The male plural is alumni, the corresponding female word is alumna, the plural form is alumnae. The word stem alere / alo means to nourish, to nurture or to raise.
The university is named alma mater, meaning nourishing mother and describes the (inter-) relationship between the university as an institution and the alumnus as the one profiting from it.
Particularly the Anglo-American countries use the term alumni both for male and female graduates and former students of an institution of higher education. In addition it is frequently used for former employees of universities and other institutions or even companies. In German the word alumni becomes an increasingly common term for university graduates, however it is not identical with the Anglo-American term, because alumni also include former employees with technical, administrative and scientific background, whereas graduates are only those individuals, who complete their studies with an academic degree.