Dictionary of English - ethnic

This is often used to mean 'foreign': ethnic clothing, fabrics, etc, being based (sometimes rather loosely) on the traditional materials and designs of other cultures, particularly peasant or tribal ones. Strictly speaking, this is incorrect, as ethnic refers to the combination of physical and cultural characteristics by which a group identifies itself or is identified by others, and everyone has some kind of ethnic background.

An ethnic minority is a group which is racially and culturally different from the majority of people in the society it belongs to; in the USA a member of such a group may be called an ethnic. Ethnicity is not the same as nationality; a person may be of British nationality (legally regarded as a British citizen), and ethnically Jewish, Welsh, Afro-Caribbean, Asian, etc. It also differs from race; Africans, Afro-Caribbeans and black Americans have common ancestry, but their history and culture have diverged, making them ethnically different.

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