Asian

Meaning

Noun

1. A person from the continent of Asia, or a descendant thereof - especially:
2. A person from the continent of Asia, or a descendant thereof - especially:
3. A domestic cat of a breed similar to the Burmese.

Adj

Of, relating to or from Asia.

Synonyms

Asiatic

Oriental

asian

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈeɪʒən/

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 making up a majority of immigrants from the continent of Asia in the United Kingdom.