Meaning & use
ethnicity
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountable
The fact of belonging to a group that shares cultural traditions, language, ancestry, religion, or national origin.
Grammar: Use uncountable for the general idea and countable for named backgrounds in official contexts: ethnicity and race; recorded ethnicities.
Patterns
- ethnicity and race
- share an ethnicity
- ethnicity data
- from many ethnicities
The survey asked respondents to report ethnicity and language spoken at home.
Her ethnicity was part of the story, but not the whole explanation of her choices.
The city’s schools include children from many ethnicities and faiths.
Common combinations
- ethnic background
- Applicants may state their ethnic background voluntarily.
- ethnic identity
- Music helped him connect with his ethnic identity.
- ethnicity data
- The report uses ethnicity data only in grouped form to protect privacy.
- mixed ethnicity
- The character has mixed ethnicity and speaks three languages.
Synonyms and how they differ
- heritage
- Emphasizes inherited traditions and ancestry; ethnicity is a broader social category used in forms and research.
- culture
- Refers to shared practices and values, while ethnicity usually includes ancestry or group origin as well.
- race
- A different social classification often tied to perceived physical traits; ethnicity centers shared culture and ancestry.
Word family
- ethnic adjective
- Relating to a group with shared culture, language, or ancestry.
- ethnically adverb
- In a way that relates to ethnicity.
- ethnic group noun
- A community sharing cultural heritage and often ancestry.
Commonly confused: ethnicity or race? ethnicity or ethic?
ethnicity vs race
Race and ethnicity overlap in everyday speech, but ethnicity points to culture, language, and ancestry rather than mainly physical classification.
ethnicity vs ethic
Ethic concerns moral principles; ethnic concerns group heritage, though the spellings look similar.
Practice
Which sentence makes the clearest distinction?
Choose one answer.
The first sentence distinguishes social categories from cultural heritage; the others either erase the difference or give ethnicity an unrelated meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ethnicity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.