ethnic

6 definitions • 10 examples

relating or belonging to a group of people who can be seen as distinct (= different) because they have a shared culture, tradition, language, history, etc. :

ethnic origin A question on ethnic origin was included in the census.

ethnic group They are the second largest ethnic group in Kenya.

ethnic mix The factory's workforce reflects the ethnic mix from which it draws its labour.

They are ethnic Hungarians (= whose families originally come from Hungary) living in Romania.

seen as different or interesting because of coming from a culture or tradition that is not Western :

ethnic food

ethnic costume

an offensive word for a person belonging to an ethnic minority (= a group of people living in a country where most people are from a different group)

relating to or characteristic of a large group of people who have the same national, racial, or cultural origins, and who usually speak the same language:

an ethnic neighborhood

She loves ethnic foods, especially Ethiopian and Japanese.

relating to a race or national group of people:

The factory's workforce reflects the ethnic mix of the local population.

from a different race, or interesting because characteristic of an ethnic group which is very different from those that are common in western culture:

ethnic food/costumes