Etymology

ethnicity

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Today it means: The common characteristics of a group of people, especially regarding ancestry, culture, language or national experiences. Full definition →

English ethnic ← Middle English ethnik ← Latin ethnicus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swé
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*swe-dʰh₁-
  4. Proto-Hellenic*séswōtʰa
  5. Ancient Greekἔθω (éthō)
  6. Ancient Greekἔθνος (éthnos)
  7. Ancient Greekἐθνικός (ethnikós)
  8. Latinethnicus
  9. Middle Englishethnik
  10. Englishethnic
  11. English todayethnicity

From ethnic + -ity.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.