Latino (demonym)

The masculine term Latino (/ləˈtn, læ-, lɑː-/),[1][2] along with its feminine form Latina, is a noun and adjective, often used in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, that most commonly refers to United States inhabitants who have cultural ties to Latin America.

Within the Latino community itself in the United States, there is some variation in how the term is defined or used.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Various governmental agencies, especially the U.S. Census Bureau, have specific definitions of Latino which may or may not agree with community usage. These agencies also employ the term Hispanic, which includes Spaniards, whereas Latino often does not. Conversely, Latino can include Brazilians,[10][11] and may include Spaniards and sometimes even some European romanophones such as Portuguese (a usage sometimes found in bilingual subgroups within the U.S., borrowing from how the word is defined in Spanish),[3][6][7][4] but Hispanic does not include any of those other than Spaniards.

Usage of the term is mostly limited to the United States. Residents of Central and South American countries usually refer to themselves by national origin, rarely as Latino. Because of this, many Latin American scholars, journalists, and Indigenous-rights organizations have objected to the mass-media use of the word to refer to all people of Latin American background.

  1. ^ "Latino". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  2. ^ "Latino". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins.
  3. ^ a b "¿Son sinónimos los términos 'hispano' y 'latino'?" [Are the terms 'Hispanic' and 'Latino' synonymous?]. Hispanic Council (in Spanish). Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?". National Association of Scholars. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  5. ^ "¿A quién consideran latino en Estados Unidos? (y por qué es más complicado de lo que quizá imaginas)" [Who is considered Latino in the United States? (and why it's more complicated than you might imagine)]. BBC (in Spanish). August 29, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Hispanos o latinos - ¿Quiénes somos?" [Hispanics or Latinos - Who are we?]. aboutespanol.com (in Spanish). Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Are Latins only in Latin America?". February 7, 2020. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  8. ^ "¿Latino o hispano? Parece lo mismo, pero no es igual" [Latino or Hispanic? It seems like the same thing, but it's not]. El Pais (in Spanish). September 5, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  9. ^ "Diferencia y similitudes entre los términos 'Hispano' y 'Latino'" [Difference and similarities between the terms 'Hispanic' and 'Latino'] (in Spanish). January 10, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  10. ^ Vásquez, Michelle Bueno (June 3, 2022). "Analysis | How the U.S. census ignores Afro-Latinos". Washington Post. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
  11. ^ "9 Things Latinos Are Tired of Explaining to Everyone Else". Mic. Mic (media company). Retrieved July 16, 2022.