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ethnic.

Of or relating to a group of people having common racial, ancestral, national, religious or cultural origins.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈɛθ.nɪk/

  1. Of or relating to a group of people having common racial, ancestral, national, religious or cultural origins.

  2. Characteristic of a foreign or a minority group's culture.

    I like to eat ethnic food

  3. Representative of a folk or traditional mode of expression.

  4. Heathen, not Jewish, Christian, or Muslim.

    historical
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *swe-dʰh₁- Proto-Hellenic *séswōtʰa Ancient Greek ἔθω (éthō) Proto-Indo-European *-nós Ancient Greek -νος (-nos) ? Ancient Greek ἔθνος (éthnos) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek ἐθνικός (ethnikós)bor. Latin ethnicusbor. Middle English ethnik English ethnic From Middle English ethnik, from Latin ethnicus ("pagan", "heathen"), from Ancient Greek ἐθνικός (ethnikós, “of or for a nation, heathen”), from ἔθνος (éthnos, “a company", later "a people or nation, heathens”). By surface analysis, ethno- + -ic.

noun/ˈɛθ.nɪk/

  1. An ethnic person, especially a foreigner or member of an immigrant community.

  2. A heathen, a pagan.

    archaic

  3. The demonym of an Ancient Greek city.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *swe-dʰh₁- Proto-Hellenic *séswōtʰa Ancient Greek ἔθω (éthō) Proto-Indo-European *-nós Ancient Greek -νος (-nos) ? Ancient Greek ἔθνος (éthnos) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek ἐθνικός (ethnikós)bor. Latin ethnicusbor. Middle English ethnik English ethnic From Middle English ethnik, from Latin ethnicus ("pagan", "heathen"), from Ancient Greek ἐθνικός (ethnikós, “of or for a nation, heathen”), from ἔθνος (éthnos, “a company", later "a people or nation, heathens”). By surface analysis, ethno- + -ic.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.