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 Latin@¹

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

Origin of Latin@²

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Latin@¹

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

Example Sentences

De minimis, which is Latin for something of little importance, dates to 1938 when Congress passed the exception to boost trade and save the time of inspecting and calculating taxes on every package.

From Los Angeles Times

Sun belt nations - including much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America - need large amounts of electricity for daytime air conditioning.

From BBC

The administration’s piecemeal campaign to divide and conquer Latin America illustrates all these themes at once, including the likely outer limits of Trumpian power as it collides with 21st-century political reality.

From Salon

Prince William will travel to Rio de Janeiro next month for the ceremony - the first time the awards have been hosted in Latin America.

From BBC

“We wanted to celebrate in the heart of Los Angeles. It is such a Latin cultural space, just like this Queerceañera, we don’t have to separate our culture from our queerness,” Alpuche said.

From Los Angeles Times