ethnic
/ˈɛθ.nɪk/
ethnic adjective: of or relating to a group of people having common racial, ancestral, national, religious or cultural origins.
Adjective
ethnic (comparative more ethnic, superlative most ethnic)
- Of or relating to a group of people having common racial, ancestral, national, religious or cultural origins.
- The violence began when Serbian troops went into Croatia ostensibly to aid armed ethnic Serbians trying to create their own autonomous states there.2015 February 3, Greg Botelho, “U.N. court: Serbs’ actions in Croatia not considered genocide”, in CNN, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2021
- Studies also show that absentee ballots cast by voters who are younger or from racial and ethnic minority groups are rejected at higher rates than other absentee ballots.2020 September 14, Richard H. Pildes, “The three words that can avert an election nightmare”, in CNN, archived from the original on 19 Oct 2022
- Characteristic of a foreign or a minority group's culture.
- I like to eat ethnic food
- Synonyms:
- exotic
- Representative of a folk or traditional mode of expression.
- Indeed, such ethnic music festivals were probably common throughout the country2008, Ronald D. Cohen, A History of Folk Music Festivals in the United States
- contemporary artists are victims of the dichotomization of fine art and folk or ethnic art, where the latter must evince standardized techniques of simplicity, naivete, naturalism, and exoticism.1990, European Review of Native American Studies Volumess 4-6
- Heathen, not Jewish, Christian, or Muslim.
Noun
ethnic (plural ethnics)
- An ethnic person, especially a foreigner or member of an immigrant community.
- A heathen, a pagan.
- ..for the learned know that even in St. Jerome's time, the consul of Rome and his wife were both Ethnics, and about the same time the greatest part of the senate also...1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Preface
- ...And the people of God, redeemed and washed with Christ's blood, and dignified with so many glorious titles of saints and sons in the Gospel, are now no better reputed than impure ethnics and lay dogs...1641, John Milton, Of Reformation in England
- The demonym of an Ancient Greek city.
- Coinage with the ethnic ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΕΥΦΡΑΤΗΝ survives from the mid-second century A.D.2006. Cohen. The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin & North Africa, 151
ethnic meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
ethnic in Hindi
- of or relating to a group of people
- संजातीय sañjātīya, नस्ली naslī
ethnic in Tamil
- இனஞ்சார்ந்த, மாந்த இனப் பிரிவு சார்ந்த
ethnic in Urdu
- علاقائی, گروہی
ethnic in Bengali
- heathen, not Judeo-Christian-Muslim
- পৌত্তলিক pōuttolik
More languagesFewer languages
- ethnic in Malayalam
- വംശത്തെ സംബന്ധിച്ചത്
- ethnic in Tagalog
- etniko
- ethnic in Arabic
- عِرْقِيّ ʕirqiyy
- ethnic in Malay
- etnik
- ethnic in Indonesian
- etnis, etnik
- ethnic in Persian
- قومی qowmi
- ethnic in Thai
- ชาติพันธุ์ châat-dtì-pan
- ethnic in Vietnamese
- dân tộc
Examples of ethnic in a sentence
- popular music is usually positioned between classical music on the one hand and folk or ethnic music on the other.2012, Michael Campbell., Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On:
- Once you dig below the surface you discover folk, grassroots, and ethnic music throughout the United States2012, Kip Lornell., Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions:
Synonyms of ethnic
Forms of ethnic
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more ethnic |
| superlative | most ethnic |
| alternative form (obsolete) | ethnick |
| Noun | |
| plural | ethnics |
Origin of 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.
Words formed from ethnic
- antiethnic
- biethnic
- coethnic
- ethnic cleanser
- ethnic cleansing
- ethnic gloss
- ethnic group
- ethnicism
- ethnicist
- ethnicistic
- ethnicization
- ethnicize
- ethnicky
- ethnic majority
- ethnic minority
- ethnic music
- ethnic purge
- ethnic studies
- geoethnic
- homoethnic
- interethnic
- intraethnic
- meta-ethnic
- metroethnic
- monoethnic
- multiethnic
- nonethnic
- pluriethnic
- polyethnic
- postethnic
- proethnic
- socioethnic
- subethnic
- supra-ethnic
- transethnic
Phrases with ethnic
Words that rhyme with ethnic
Questions about ethnic
- What does ethnic mean?
- Ethnic means of or relating to a group of people having common racial, ancestral, national, religious or cultural origins.
- What is ethnic in Hindi?
- Ethnic in Hindi is संजातीय (sañjātīya), नस्ली (naslī). See Ethnic meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ethnic in a sentence?
- popular music is usually positioned between classical music on the one hand and folk or ethnic music on the other.
- What part of speech is ethnic?
- Ethnic can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ethnic?
- Ethnic is pronounced /ˈɛθ.nɪk/.
Words near ethnic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ethnic (page history and authors); ethnic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ethnic (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ethnic (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-ethnic.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ethnic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ethnic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.