Alum or alumna?
alum is a noun meaning “Any similar double sulphate in which either or both of the potassium and…”; alumna is a noun meaning “A female pupil or student (especially of a university or college)”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) alum is about 6.0 times as common as alumna.
What is the difference between alum and alumna?
| alum | alumna | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | An astringent salt, usually occurring in the form of pale crystals, much used in the dyeing and tanning trade and in certain medicines, and now understood to… Any similar double sulphate in which either or both of the potassium and aluminium is wholly or partly replaced by other univalent or tervalent cations To steep in, or otherwise impregnate with, a solution of alum; to treat with alum | A female pupil or student (especially of a university or college) A female graduate |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | alums alums, alumni | alumni, alumnas, alumnae |
| Pronunciation | /ˈæl.əm/ /əˈlʌm/ | /əˈlʌmnə/ |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words | about once in every 3 million words |
Sources: alum and alumna in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of alum and alumna
alum
- 1
An astringent salt, usually occurring in the form of pale crystals, much used in the dyeing and tanning trade and in certain medicines, and now understood to be a double sulphate of potassium and…
- 2
To steep in, or otherwise impregnate with, a solution of alum; to treat with alum
- 3
CanadaUSA past attendee or graduate (of any gender) of a college, university or other educational institution
- 4
Any similar double sulphate in which either or both of the potassium and aluminium is wholly or partly replaced by other univalent or tervalent cations
alumna
- 1
A female pupil or student (especially of a university or college)
- 2
A female graduate
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, alum or alumna?
alum appears 1.8 times per million words; alumna about once in every 3 million words.
alum 1.8 times per million wordsalumna about once in every 3 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search alum vs alumna?
“alum vs alumna” is searched about 20 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.