alien

• alyaunte (15th-16th centuries)

From Middle English alien, a borrowing from Old French alien, aliene, from Latin aliēnus (“belonging to someone else, later exotic, foreign”), from Latin alius (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos. Related to English else.

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɪ.li.ən/

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alien (plural aliens)

1. Any life form of extraterrestrial or extradimensional origin.
   • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, OCLC 865290061, PC, scene: Hello from the Reds:

     You might not have much use for me. You spend too much time with the damn aliens, pretending your time in the gangs back on Earth never happened. I know you weren't happy when I found you at the Citadel a couple years back.
     But I'm glad you're on this. I hope you find whoever took my people on Freedom's Progress and kick their scaly asses. I'm glad it's a human finding these bastards.

2. A person, animal, plant, or other thing which is from outside the family, group, organization, or territory under consideration.
3. A foreigner residing in a country.
   • 1773, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the laws of England: in four books, fifth edition, page 372:

     An alien born may purchase lands, or other estates: but not for his own use; for the king is thereupon entitled to them.

   • 1831, John Marshall, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, U.S. Government:

     The counsel have shown conclusively that they are not a state of the union, and have insisted that individually they are aliens, not owing allegiance to the United States.

   • 1987, “Englishman in New York”, in …Nothing Like the Sun, performed by Sting:

     I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien
     I'm an Englishman in New York

   • 2004, Wesley Campbell, Stephen Court, Be a hero: the battle for mercy and social justice, Destiny Image Publishers, page 74:

     Aliens are aliens because of persecution or war or hardship or famine.

4. One excluded from certain privileges; one alienated or estranged.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Ephesians 2:12, column 2:

     […] aliens from the common wealth of Iſrael […]

• (person, etc. from outside): fremd (rare, chiefly dialectal), guest, stranger
• (foreigner): outlander; see also Thesaurus:foreigner
• (life form of extraterrestrial origin): See also Thesaurus:extraterrestrial

alien (comparative more alien, superlative most alien)

1. Not belonging to the same country, land, or government, or to the citizens or subjects thereof; foreign.

   alien subjects, enemies, property, or shores

2. Very unfamiliar, strange, or removed.

   principles alien to our religion

   • 1850, William Wordsworth, The Prelude

     An alien sound of melancholy.

3. Pertaining to extraterrestrial life; typical of an extraterrestrial creature.
   • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 8:

     It had a peculiar alien tallness, a peculiar alien flattened head, peculiar slitty little alien eyes[.]

• allotrious

alien (third-person singular simple present aliens, present participle aliening, simple past and past participle aliened)

1. (transitive) To estrange; to alienate.
2. (law) To transfer the ownership of something.

• aliene

• A-line, Aline, Elain, Elian, Elina, Nelia, aline, anile, elain, laine, liane, linea

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /əˈli.ən/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /aˈli.en/

alien

1. third-person plural present indicative form of aliar

Borrowed from English alien (“stranger, foreigner”), from Middle English alien, from Old French alien, from Latin aliēnus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈeː.li.ən/

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• Hyphenation: ali‧en

alien m (plural aliens)

1. An alien, an extraterrestrial.

   Synonym: ruimtewezen

Borrowed from English alien (“stranger, foreigner”), from Middle English alien, from Old French alien, from Latin aliēnus.

• IPA^(key): /a.ljɛn/

• Audio (Paris)

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• Audio

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alien m (plural aliens)

1. alien (extraterrestrial)

From Old French alien, aliene, from Latin aliēnus. Some forms (chiefly nominal) show assimilation to the suffix -ant.

• alyon, alean, alyen, aliand, aliaund, aliant, alyant

• IPA^(key): /aːliˈɛːn/, /ˈaːliɛn/, /ˈaːliən/
• (with assimilation) IPA^(key): /ˈaːliant/, /ˈaːliau̯nt/

alien (plural aliens)

1. An outsider or foreign person, especially if resident in one's nation.
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Joon 10:5, page 49v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     But þei ſuen not an alien · but fleen from hym .· foꝛ þei han not knowen þe vois of aliens

     But they don't follow a stranger; they'll flee from them instead, because they don't recognise strangers' voices.

2. One who is alien in some other way (e.g. religion, family)
3. (rare) An unlawful occupier or possessor of land.

• English: alien
• Scots: alien, awlien

• “āliē̆n, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-25.

alien (plural and weak singular aliene)

1. Outside, alien, foreign; from or relating to another nation.
2. Religiously outside; heretical, erring; of false religion or morals.
3. Distant, isolated, secure, away (from something)
4. (rare) Under the authority of other nation's religious institutions.
5. (rare) Not relating to or of oneself; not natural (to one's body).
6. (rare) Bizarre, weird, exotic.

• English: alien
• Scots: alien, awlien

• “āliēn, ālien, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-25.

From Old French alier.

alien

1. Alternative form of allien

From Latin aliēnus.

alien m (oblique and nominative feminine singular aliene)

1. alien; foreign; non-native
   • 11th century, La Vie de Saint Alexis, BNF manuscript 19525

     alienes terres

     foreign lands

alien m (oblique plural aliens, nominative singular aliens, nominative plural alien)

1. alien (a non-native)

• → Middle English: alien, alyon, alean, alyen, aliand, aliaund, aliant, alyant
  • English: alien
  • Scots: alien, awlien

Unadapted borrowing from English alien (“extraterrestrial life form”), from Old French alien, aliene, from Latin aliēnus (“foreign”), from alius (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos. Doublet of alheio.

alien m (plural aliens)

1. alien; extraterrestrial life form

   Synonyms: alienígena, ET, extraterrestre