latino
UK /ləˈtiːnəʊ/ · US /ləˈtinoʊ/ adjective, noun
Forms latinos
- adjective (chiefly US) Of Latin American descent, Hispanic.
- noun A person of a country that predominantly speaks a language that derives from the Latin language.
- noun (chiefly US) A person, especially a male, from Latin America: contraction of latinoamericano. (Compare Latina.) “Latinos have quickly become the largest ethnic minority in the United States.”
Synonyms
Etymology
American English, first attested in the 1960s for a person of Spanish-speaking or Latin American ancestry (notably Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban), originally an (informal) shortened form of Spanish latinoamericano (“Latin American”, adjective). Its appearance probably coincided with the colloquial use of Anglo (for a person of British or White US descent) and Afro (for a person of Black or African US descent).
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “latino”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details