We the People: Ethn

The words on this list all share the root ethn, from the Greek ethnos, meaning "people, nation."

Work your way through these lists focused on Greek and Latin roots representing people and the social units they form: Gen, Ethn, Dem, Popul, Soc, Civ, Anthrop
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ethnos
    people of the same race or nationality who share a distinctive culture
    The Ethnos must be defined, like a species of natural history, by a rehearsal of a series of its characteristics, not by one alone. Brinton, Daniel Garrison
    Don't confuse ethnos with ethos, which focuses on a distinctive spirit or moral character of a culture or time period.
  2. ethnic
    distinctive of the ways of living of a group of people
    For many, it’s about belonging and community, a matter of ethnic or familial solidarity rather than theological creed. The Guardian (Sep 25, 2015)
  3. ethnical
    denoting or deriving from or distinctive of the ways of living built up by a group of people
    The Middle East, mired in religious, political and ethnical conflicts, is in the eyes of Washington more of a hopeless case than a strategic asset. US News (Jun 1, 2015)
    This adjective may seem redundant, as English already has the synonymous ethnic, but it might have come about when ethnic was used as a noun.
  4. ethnicity
    an affiliation resulting from racial or cultural ties
    Sir, we are a pluralistic society of many races, ethnicities and creeds. Washington Post (Sep 22, 2015)
  5. ethnography
    scientific description of individual human societies
    This capital city in the state of Amazonas is situated within the world’s biggest rain forest, making this region a treasure of ethnography and biodiversity. Seattle Times (Jun 12, 2014)
  6. ethnology
    branch of anthropology dealing with divisions of humankind
    Nevertheless, this fallacious method has been followed in the domain of ethnology and politics with, as might be expected, bad results. Kingsley, Mary Henrietta
    Compared to ethnography, which focuses on describing a specific society, ethnology focuses on comparing different societies in order to come up with generalizations about human nature.
  7. ethnocentric
    centered on a specific ethnic group, usually one's own
    “It just didn’t seem appropriate. It seemed like a reemphasizing of history and recognizing that to be very ethnocentric really diminishes us all.” Time (Oct 13, 2014)
  8. multiethnic
    involving several ethnic groups
    Not since the days of the Holy Roman Empire has Europe seen such a multinational, multiethnic assemblage. The New Yorker (Jul 7, 2015)
  9. ethnarch
    the ruler of a province (as in the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire) or certain religious rulers with secular authority
    In the course of the struggle with the unfortunate ethnarch, the nobles had found it expedient to attach themselves to Rome. Wallace, Lewis
    ethnos + arkhein ("to rule")
  10. ethnic cleansing
    the deliberate removal of people from a specific culture
    German lawmakers approved a resolution recognizing the genocide, calling it an “example in the history of mass extermination, ethnic cleansing, expulsion; yes, a genocide.” New York Times (Apr 24, 2015)
Created on Fri Oct 02 17:30:00 EDT 2015 (updated Mon Aug 26 15:46:35 EDT 2019)

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