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

Discover More

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."

Example Sentences

“In the absence of ethnicity, religion or political ideologies, social networks can divide, and new group boundaries can emerge, leading to collective violence,” the authors write.

From Salon • Apr. 23, 2026

They also adjusted for factors such as age, sex, ethnicity, education, smoking, alcohol use, diet, and family history of CVD and cancer.

From Science Daily • Apr. 18, 2026

“With Bad Bunny’s rise and the Super Bowl, it felt like a shift in values towards the Spanish language,” said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew Research Center’s director of race and ethnicity research.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2026

And the suit cites Kavanaugh’s previous effort to walk back “Kavanaugh stops” to tell him: You said immigration stops can’t be based on race or ethnicity.

From Slate • Apr. 10, 2026

Then she asks if any of us wrote down words that describe our ethnicity.

From "Watch Us Rise" by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan