ethnicity

American  

[eth-nis-i-tee] / ɛθˈnɪs ɪ ti /

noun

plural

ethnicities

1. an ethnic group; a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like.

   Representatives of several ethnicities were present.

2. ethnic traits, background, allegiance, or association.

   The graph shows class enrollment by gender and ethnicity.

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ethnicity Cultural  

1. Identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group's customs, beliefs, and language.

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Usage

race ²

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Many minority groups in the United States maintain strong ethnic identity; especially in cities, immigrants are often attracted to ethnic communities established by people from their own country, communities in which many traditional cultural features are maintained. (See melting pot.)

Etymology

Origin of ethnicity

First recorded in 1765–75, for earlier sense; ethnic + -ity

Explanation

A person's ethnicity is their ethnic traits, classification, or association. If your ethnicity is Italian, you might speak Italian in the home and eat Italian food. Or you might simply refer to yourself as Italian and identify with your ethnicity in no other way. Usually, ethnicity is a collective noun, but in the singular, an ethnicity is a particular ethnic group. The adjective ethnic relates to large groups of people who have certain racial, cultural, religious, or other traits in common. In Middle English, ethnic meant heathen or pagan. The word is from Late Latin ethnicus, from Greek ethnikos "foreign," from ethnos "nation."