What does "metic" mean?

In Ancient Greek city-states, a resident alien who did not have the rights of a citizen and who paid a tax for the right to live there.

What is a synonym for "metic"?

Common synonyms include: citizen, cosmopolitan, hyphenate, immigrant, national, subject.

//ˈmɛtɪk// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
In Ancient Greek city-states, a resident alien who did not have the rights of a citizen and who paid a tax for the right to live there. historical
2
an alien who paid a fee to reside in an ancient Greek city wordnet

From Late Latin metycus (also metoecus), from Ancient Greek μέτοικος (métoikos, “foreigner, metic”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.