Page "American (word)" Paragraph 6

Portuguese has americano, denoting both a person or thing from the Americas and a U. S. national.

For referring specifically to a U. S. national and things, the words used are estadunidense ( also spelled estado-unidense ) ( United States person ), from Estados Unidos da América, and ianque ( Yankee ), but the term most often used is norte-americano, even though it could, as with its Spanish equivalent, in theory apply to Canadians, Mexicans, etc., as well.

In French, étasunien, from États-Unis d ' Amérique, distinguishes U. S. things and persons from the adjective américain, which denotes persons and things from the United States but may also refer to ' the Americas '; likewise, the German usages U. S .- amerikanisch and U. S .- Amerikaner observe said cultural distinction, solely denoting U. S. things and people.

It is important to note that these are " politically correct " terms and that in normal parlance, the adjective " American " and its direct cognates are almost always used unless the context does not render the nationality of the person clear.

For example, the word " Amerika " in German has a one-to-one equivalence to its meaning in modern English: it may denote North America, South America, or both, and in some instances refers to the United States only.