Latin@

¹

Or la·ti·n@

[luh-tee-noh-luh-tee-nuh, la‐]

adjective

1. of or relating to people of Latin American origin or descent, especially those living in the United States (used in place of the masculine form Latino or the feminine formLatina ).

   The school promoted Latin American awareness during Latin@ Heritage Month.

noun

plural

Latin@s 

1. a person of Latin American origin or descent, especially one living in the United States (used in place of the masculine form Latino or the feminine formLatina ).

   Latin@s in high-tech fields.

Latin

²

[lat-n]

noun

1. an Italic language spoken in ancient Rome and used as the official language of the Roman Empire. L

2. one of the forms of literary Latin, as Medieval Latin, Late Latin, Biblical Latin, or Liturgical Latin, or of nonclassical Latin, as Vulgar Latin.

3. a native or inhabitant of Latium; an ancient Roman.

4. Rare.,  a member of any of the Latin peoples, or those speaking chiefly Romance languages, especially a native of or émigré from Latin America.

5. Rare.,  a member of the Latin Church; a Roman Catholic, as distinguished from a member of the Greek Church.

adjective

1. denoting or pertaining to those peoples, as the Italians, French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc., using languages derived from Latin, especially the peoples of Central and South America: Latin dance is one of his hobbies.

   Her landlord is Latin.

   Latin dance is one of his hobbies.

2. of or relating to the Latin Church.

3. of or relating to Latium, its inhabitants, or their language.

4. of or relating to the Latin alphabet.

Latin

/ ˈlætɪn /

noun

1. the language of ancient Rome and the Roman Empire and of the educated in medieval Europe, which achieved its classical form during the 1st century _bc. Having originally been the language of Latium, belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European family, it later formed the basis of the Romance group See Late Latin Low Latin Medieval Latin New Latin Old Latin See also Romance

2. a member of any of those peoples whose languages are derived from Latin

3. an inhabitant of ancient Latium

adjective

1. of or relating to the Latin language, the ancient Latins, or Latium

2. characteristic of or relating to those peoples in Europe and Latin America whose languages are derived from Latin

3. of or relating to the Roman Catholic Church

4. denoting or relating to the Roman alphabet

Latin

1. The language of ancient Rome. When Rome became an empire, the language spread throughout southern and western Europe.

Pronunciation Note

The unusually constructed word Latin@ is more commonly used in writing than in speech, probably because the final character poses a pronunciation challenge. Most speakers don't assign “@” a sound at all, often pronouncing Latin@ by running the two intended forms together, as “Latino-Latina.” Others have postulated that the final vowel might rhyme with “cow,” as , splitting the @ into “a” and “o.” However, research has shown this to be quite rare.

The modern Romance languages — French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and a few others — are all derived from Latin.

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Latin was the universal language of learning. Even in modern English, many scholarly, technical, and legal terms, such as per se and habeas corpus, retain their Latin form.

Other Word Forms

• anti-Latin adjective
• non-Latin adjective
• pre-Latin adjective
• pro-Latin adjective
• quasi-Latin adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Latin¹

First recorded in 1995–2000; from the superficial resemblance of @ as a combination of a and o; Latinx ( def. )

Origin of Latin²

First recorded before 950; Middle English, Old English from Latin Latīnus; Latium, -ine ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of Latin¹

Old English latin and læden Latin, language, from Latin Latīnus of Latium

Example Sentences

There is a tradition of geographical rotation, which would make it Latin America's turn this time around, but it's not always followed.

Read more on Barron's

Will, a tutor, is trapped inside teaching Latin the first time he spots his future bride romping around in the grass with a hawk on her arm.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

For years, high-schoolers have boasted in college applications about learning Latin, leading the chess club or acing Advanced Placement Physics.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Mass movements spearheaded by the under-30s arose across Asia, Africa and Latin America to fight against poor living standards, social media censorship and elite corruption.

Read more on Barron's

“There is a real frustration and an appetite for more-drastic measures across the region to either tackle crime or economic crises,” said Michael Shifter, a scholar on Latin America at the Inter-American Dialogue policy group.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal