ethnicity

Etymology

It is formed from English ethnic + -ity.^[2][3][4][5] In its first, obsolete sense it follows Spanish etnicidad, used in 1758 in the Spanish passage translated in the first English quotation.^[2] The adjective ethnic is from Late Latin ethnicus (“heathen, pagan”), from Ancient Greek ἐθνικός (ethnikós, “national, foreign, Gentile”), from ἔθνος (éthnos, “nation, people”).^[2][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Paganism, heathen superstition: 1772, in T. Nugent's translation of a work by J. F. de Isla; a rare sense, now obsolete.^[2][7][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense of belonging to a group regarded as sharing descent or a national or cultural tradition is recorded from 1920, in I. B. Berkson's Theories of Americanization,^[2][8][7] and Etymonline dates "ethnic character" to 1953.^[3] The Shorter Oxford places the modern sense in the mid-20th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1772 – paganism, heathen superstition (obsolete).^[2][7]
• 1920 – membership of an ethnic group; ethnic character.^[2][8]
• 1953 – Etymonline's date for "ethnic character".^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The fact of belonging to a group of people who share a culture, tradition, language or descent: Applicants were asked to state their age and ethnicity.
2. A particular ethnic group or affiliation.

Related words

• ethnic
• ethnical
• ethnology
• ethnos
• ethnography

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster