Latino

Meanings

Adjective

• (chiefly US) Of Latin American descent, Hispanic.

Noun

• (chiefly US) A person, especially and usually (interpreted as) a male, from Latin America, a Hispanic person.

Origin

• : American English, first attested in the 1960's for a person of Spanish-speaking or Latin American ancestry (notably Mexican, Puertorican and Cuban), originally an (informal) shortened form of Spanish latinoamericano. Its appearance probably coincided with the colloquial use of Anglo- (for a person of British or White US descent) and Afro- (for a person of Black or African US descent).