Citizen: A Member of a State, With Rights and Duties
A citizen is a legally recognised member of a country. The word comes from city, because citizenship was originally a matter of belonging to a town rather than a nation.
A citizen holds legal membership of a state, with the rights and obligations that come with it. The word records an older world: citizenship began in cities, and only later scaled up to countries, which is why a word built on city now means a national.
- A legal member of a country. *A French citizen.*
- An inhabitant of a city. *The citizens of Leeds.*
- A civilian rather than an official. *Ordinary citizens were consulted.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | citizen | A dual citizen. |
| Noun | citizenship | Applying for citizenship. |
| Adjective | civic | Civic duty. |
| Related | civilian | Civilian casualties. |
| Related | subject | A British subject. |
How it is used in a sentence
- She became a citizen after five years' residence.Naturalisation — acquiring citizenship.
- Senior citizens travel free on buses here.A polite term for older people.
- Citizen journalism grew with smartphones.Reporting by people who are not professional journalists.
Citizen, national, resident and subject
- Citizen — full legal membership with political rights
- National — belongs to a state, but may not hold all citizen rights
- Resident — lives there lawfully without being a citizen
- Subject — owes allegiance to a monarch; largely historical in Britain now
- Stateless — recognised as a citizen by no country at all
From Anglo-French *citezein*, from Old French *citeien*, from *cite*, city. The Roman idea of *civis* — with rights enforceable in court — is the ancestor of the modern concept, and it is where civic and civil come from too.
Citizen or subject in Britain?
British citizen is the current legal status. Subject survives only in a few narrow historical categories.
Can you hold two citizenships?
Many countries allow it, but not all. Some require you to renounce the first when acquiring the second.