Meanings
- uncountableThe quality of being ethnic.
[Yakubu] Gowon, educated at Britain’s famed Sandhurst military academy, is an ardent devotee of British manners and decorum. He appears to have hit upon a magically effective combination of trendy African “ethnicness” and the Western personal style to which many educated Africans still aspire.
1975 June 15, Karen De Young, “[The Washington Post] Gowon’s Nigeria: So Rich It Hurts”, in AF Press Clips, volume X, number 25, Washington, D.C., published 24 June 1975, page 13, column 12 more examples
Today the tendency is to go to the other extreme and to insist that minority groups maintain their separate identity. There seems to be no good reason why ethnics who wish to remain segregated should not be permitted that choice, but those who wish to lose their “ethnicness” and become full-fledged American citizens should be encouraged rather than blocked in doing so.
1951, Mary B[osworth] Treudley, “The Armenian’s View of the American Middle Class”, in Arnold M[arshall] Rose, editor, Race Prejudice and Discrimination: Readings in Intergroup Relations in the United States, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC, part III (Group Identification and the Minority Community), section C (Minority Adjustment), page 397The current vogue seems to be to "borrow" Bob Gibson songs. Abominations like BUDDY BETTER GET ON DOWN THE LINE, a re-write of the Pete Seeger: Pete Steele: Dave Macon versions, also don't help the group. It is now a railroad song and a sort of teenage love song -- both! Now don't get me wrong, I like ethnicness as well as the next guy, but ...
[1960], Bob Dahle, “STRING ALONG WITH THE KINGSTON TRIO (Capitol 1407)”, in Paul Nelson, Jon Pankake, editors, The Little Sandy Review, number 6, Minneapolis, Minn., →ISSN, page 10
Origin
Cite this entry
ethnicness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ethnicness
“ethnicness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ethnicness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ethnicness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ethnicness.
Source: ethnicness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.