Anyone who lives in the Americas, including but not limited to citizens of the United States. People in the U.S., however, like this culturally-insensitive law professor, often use the term “American” to refer exclusively to themselves. But this is wrong and blatantly offensive … An American — or un americano in Spanish — is anyone who calls North, South, or Central America home. Or, as David Post writes in this beautiful blog post:

Brazilians and Colombians and Argentines are “Americans,” because they are from the Americas. There are many circumstances … where the meaning of the term “American” is not clear from the context at all, and it would be extremely helpful to distinguish between features that are common to all “Americans” (including those who live in places other than the US) and those belonging specifically to one of the American nations (i.e., the US) …

Thank you Professor Post.