Latino

The word “Latino” means a person, especially a man, of Latin American descent. In plain terms, a person (or adjective) referring to Latin American heritage.

“Latino” is pronounced luh-TEE-noh (/ləˈtinoʊ/ in IPA).

Here is “Latino” used in a sentence: “The neighborhood has a large Latino population.”

Depending on how it is used, “Latino” can be a noun and an adjective.

The word “Latino” dates back to around 1960 and comes from Latin. Shortened from Spanish latinoamericano ("Latin American"), first common in American English in the 1960s.

“Latino” is an uncommon word in modern English.

“Latino” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a person, especially a man, of Latin American descent.

Latino refers to people of Latin American descent, a geographic and cultural category, while Hispanic refers to people connected to Spanish-speaking countries or culture, a linguistic category. This means the two groups overlap heavily but are not identical, since, for example, Brazilians can be Latino without being Hispanic.

Yes, Latino is capitalised because it refers to a person's national or cultural origin, following the same convention as other ethnic and nationality terms.

Latino traditionally refers to a man of Latin American descent, while Latina refers to a woman of Latin American descent, reflecting the gendered noun forms found in Spanish. Latino is also sometimes used as a general or plural term for the group as a whole.