CITIZEN (a

See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form corrupted in Eng., apparently by

See also:

• ANALOGY (Gr. avaXo-yLa, proportion)

analogy with "

See also:

• DENIZEN (derived through the Fr. from Lat. de intus, " from within," i.e. as opposed to " foreign ")

denizen," from O. Fr. citeain, mod. Fr. citoyen)  , etymologically the inhabitant of a city, cite or civitas (see CITY), and in England the term still used primarily of persons possessing civic rights in a borough; thus used also of a townsman as opposed to a countryman . The more extended use of the word, however, corresponding to civitas, gives " citizen " the meaning of one who is a constituent member of a state in international relations and as such has full national rights and owes a certain allegiance (q.v.) as opposed to an "alien"; in republican countries the term is then commonly employed as the equivalent of " subject " in monarchies of feudal origin . For the rules governing the obtaining of citizenship in this latter sense in the United States and elsewhere see NATURALIZATION .