Citizenships

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The legal status that confers membership in a nation, allowing individuals to partake in rights and obligations associated with that nation
2. The qualification of belonging to a specific political entity, encompassing both the entitlements and responsibilities involved
3. The recognized legal relationship between an individual and a country that grants certain rights and duties

Etymology: "Citizenships" is simply the plural of "citizenship," the noun for the legal status of being a member of a nation or state. The plural is used when someone holds more than one such status, as in a person with dual citizenships. The base word is built from "citizen" and the suffix "-ship," which in Old English formed nouns naming a state, condition, or quality, as in "friendship" or "hardship." Adding it to "citizen" yields the sense of the condition of belonging to a city or state. English once had a native alternative for this idea: "burgrǣden," from "burg," meaning borough or town, and "-rǣden," a suffix denoting a condition or rule. That Old English term was eventually displaced by the Latin-derived "citizen" family, so the word the modern reader meets is a later replacement for a native coinage.

Synonyms: nationalities, status, membership, belonging, residency