Asian American

American  

[ey-zhuhn-uh-mer-i-kuhn, ey-shuhn-] / ˌeɪ ʒən əˈmɛr ɪ kən, ˈeɪ ʃən- /

noun

1. a citizen or resident of the U.S. of Asian birth or descent.

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adjective

1. of or relating to Asian Americans or their culture.

2. Asian-American, occurring between the United States and Asia.

   Protectionist tariffs negatively affected the volume of Asian-American trade.

Etymology

Origin of Asian American

First recorded in 1965–70

Compare meaning

How does asian-american compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Asian American vs. Asian

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Asian American

Both men survived the attacks, which drew condemnations from the city's Jewish and Asian American leaders.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

It comes as health experts see rising rates of lung cancer among Asian American women who have never smoked and increasing rates of early-onset breast cancer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

Yet it simultaneously professes anxiety about an Asian American who has decidedly not stood apart from American institutions and culture: After graduating from Yale Law School, Wang clerked for two Supreme Court justices.

From Slate ● May 26, 2026

Mejia, who is of Filipino ancestry, became the first Asian American to hold citywide elected office in Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

In March 2009, he left WHO and Harvard to become the seventeenth president of Dartmouth—the first Asian American president of any Ivy League university.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French