Latinx

See also: latinx

English

Etymology

The gender-neutral suffix -x replaces the gendered Spanish suffixes -a and -o. Reinforced by Spanish latinx, formed on the same principle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ləˈtin.ɛks/, /læˈtin.ɛks/, or sometimes as the full phrase "Latino and Latina"

Adjective

Latinx

1. (chiefly US) Someone of Latin American descent or origin. [from 21st c.]
   • 2015, Eric A. Stanley, ‎Nat Smith, Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex →ISBN:

     "Black and/or Latinx transgender people often find ourselves the target of increased police hostility,..."

   • 2015, Julie Decker, The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality, →ISBN:

     There is also the fact that, from an early age, people of color— especially young black people and to some extent Hispanic and Latinx/Latino/Latina people—are automatically sexualized to a higher degree by white observers [...]

   • 2016, Charles J. Sykes. Fail U.: The False Promise of Higher Education →ISBN, page 188:

     […] anti-black racism, anti-Latinx racism, […]

   • 2019 November 18, Derecka Purnell, “Bloomberg's weak apology for stop-and-frisk is too little, too late”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Police found no weapon on 93% of the people stopped, and it is unclear what was found on the remaining 7%. Actually, among people that the police frisked, black and Latinx people were less likely than white people to have a weapon on them.

Noun

Latinx (plural Latinxes)

1. A Latin person (of any gender); a Latino or Latina.
   • 2008 July 26, Elisa Camahort Page, “Elisa Camahort Page on Twitter”, in Twitter‎^[2], archived from the original on 2016-11-17:

     @nmoon Looks can be deceiving, but I "see" no Latinx, several multi-racials, 3 whites 90% AfrAm. I don't see anyone who looks solely AsAmer

   • 2011 April 20, Karari Kue, “Karari Kue on Twitter”, in Twitter‎^[3], archived from the original on 2016-11-17:

     @metalmujer @soylamar there's also a variant with an x (Latinxs, maestrxs, etc.) but not quite as popular as @

   • 2011 April 21, Reina Valenzuela, “Reina Valenzuela on Twitter”, in Twitter‎^[4], archived from the original on 2016-11-17:

     @kararikue @metalmujer I would love to read more abt the variations of Latin@ Latinx send me links, working on a presentation on diversity

   • 2015 Fall, City on a Hill Press-Primer, page 30:

     Asian Latinxs [...] Chicanxs/Latinxs [...]

   • 2016, Miguel A. De La Torre, The U.S. Immigration Crisis: Toward an Ethics of Place, page 72:

     Exclusion mainly occurs because Latinxs are conceived by the dominant Euroamerican culture as not belonging, as perpetual “illegals.”

   • 2016 Spring, La Vida Nueva, page 48:

     [And] there is no reason Latinxs shouldn't be the ones to fill them.

Synonyms

• Latine
• Latin@ (which see for more)

See also

• Chicanx