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ethnic - 5 dictionary results
eth⋅nic
[eth-nik] 
nɪk
–adjective
| 1. | pertaining to or characteristic of a people, esp. a group (ethnic group) sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like. |
| 2. | referring to the origin, classification, characteristics, etc., of such groups. |
| 3. | being a member of an ethnic group, esp. of a group that is a minority within a larger society: ethnic Chinese in San Francisco. |
| 4. | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of members of such a group. |
| 5. | belonging to or deriving from the cultural, racial, religious, or linguistic traditions of a people or country: ethnic dances. |
| 6. | Obsolete. pagan; heathen. |
–noun
| 7. | a member of an ethnic group. |
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To ethnic
| eth·nic (ěth'nĭk) adj.
[Middle English, heathen, from Late Latin ethnicus, from Greek ethnikos, from ethnos, people, nation; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.] Word History: When it is said in a Middle English text written before 1400 that a part of a temple fell down and "mad a gret distruccione of ethnykis," one wonders why ethnics were singled out for death. The word ethnic in this context, however, means "gentile," coming as it does from the Greek adjective ethnikos, meaning "national, foreign, gentile." The adjective is derived from the noun ethnos, "people, nation, foreign people," that in the plural phrase ta ethnē meant "foreign nations." In translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, this phrase was used for Hebrew gōyīm, "gentiles"; hence the sense of the noun in the Middle English quotation. The noun ethnic in this sense or the related sense "heathen" is not recorded after 1728, although the related adjective sense is still used. But probably under the influence of other words going back to Greek ethnos, such as ethnography and ethnology, the adjective ethnic broadened in meaning in the 19th century. After this broadening the noun sense "a member of a particular ethnic group," first recorded in 1945, came into existence. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Ethnic
Eth"nic\, Ethnical \Eth"nic*al\, a. [L. ethnicus, Gr. ?, fr. ? nation, ? ? the nations, heathens, gentiles: cf. F. ethnique.]1. Belonging to races or nations; based on distinctions of race; ethnological. 2. Pertaining to the gentiles, or nations not converted to Christianity; heathen; pagan; -- opposed to Jewish and Christian.Ethnic
Eth"nic\n. A heathen; a pagan. [Obs.] No better reported than impure ethnic and lay dogs. --Milton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : ethnic
Spanish:
étnico,
German:
ethnisch,
Japanese:
民族の
ethnic
c.1375, from Scottish, "heathen, pagan," and having that sense first in Eng., from Gk. ta ethne, used in Septuagint translation to render Heb. goyim, pl. of goy "nation," especially of non-Israelites, hence "Gentile nation." Ta ethne is from Gk. ethnos "band of people living together, nation, people," prop. “people of one's own kind,” from PIE *swedh-no-, suffixed form of base *s(w)e- (see idiom). Sense of "peculiar to a race or nation" is 1851, return to the word's original meaning; that of "different cultural groups" is 1935; and that of "racial, cultural or national minority group" is Amer.Eng. 1945. Ethnicity is from 1953; ethnic cleansing is from 1991.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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