ethnicity

Etymology

ethnic + -ity

noun

1. The common characteristics of a group of people, especially regarding ancestry, culture, language or national experiences.
   Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept? 2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164
2. An ethnic group.
3. (casual, euphemistic) Race; common ancestry.