Asian

See also: asian and asían

English

Etymology

From Latin āsiānus. The popular American definition referring to East and Southeast Asians collectively seems to be a shortened form of "Asian American", a term whose origins activists and academics trace back to 1968 and University of California, Berkeley (UCLA) students Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee, who, inspired by the Black Power Movement and the protests against the Vietnam War, founded the "Asian American Political Alliance" as a way to unite Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino American students on campus. It replaced the term "Mongoloid", but still continued the racial grouping of "Mongoloid". South Asians are also sometimes called "Asian" in the English settler colonies (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) but rarely (if ever) Near Easterners and Central Asians. The British term exclusively referring to South Asians was due to South Asians forming a majority of immigrants from the continent of Asia in the United Kingdom. By surface analysis, Asia +‎ -an.

Pronunciation

Noun

Asian (plural Asians)

  1. A person from the continent of Asia, or a descendant thereof - especially:
    1. (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A person from or with ancestry in East or Southeast Asia, occasionally South Asia.
      • 2022 February 17, Eddie Kim, MEL Magazine‎[1]:
        Hate crimes and attacks on Asians have captured the local news and the national attention since 2020, producing a stream of content that showed innocent people being attacked and belittled in never-ending variations on the same violent theme.
    2. (UK, Ireland, South Africa) A person from or with ancestry in South Asia.
      • 1987 May, Paul Oliver, “Movie Mahal: Indian cinema on ITV Channel 4”, in Popular Music, →DOI, page 215:
        If radio and television programmes are anything to go by, Asians in Britain get up early on a Sunday.
      • 2013, Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala:
        Were there Taliban beheading people? I didn't tell my parents, but I flinched if an Asian-looking man came close.
  2. A domestic cat of a breed similar to the Burmese.

Usage notes

  • The American usage of "Asian" (East, Southeast, sometimes South Asian) is internationally used outside of English (e.g. in Turkish, German, Swedish, Korean, French, etc.).

Synonyms

Translations

Adjective

Asian (not comparable)

  1. Of, relating to or from Asia.
    • 2015 June 4, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, “The beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself”, in BBC‎[2]:
      There are white, black, Asian and Chinese Britons
    • 2021 March 15, Jessie Yeung, “These Asian countries are giving dual citizens an ultimatum on nationality – and loyalty”, in CNN‎[3]:
      And some Asian countries are tightening their immigration laws. Japan reinforced its strict stance in January when a court upheld the country’s ban against dual citizenship, rejecting a lawsuit filed by Japanese citizens living in Europe.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Blends
Expressions: animal species
Expressions: other terms
Expressions from compound words with “Asia”

Translations

Anagrams

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