The terms "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯತೆ" and "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯ ಗುಂಪು" are derived from the Greek word "ethnos" , normally translated as "ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ" or commonly said ಜನರು of the same race that share a distinctive culture. The term "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯ" and related forms were used in English in the meaning of "pagan/ heathen" from the 14th century through the middle of the 19th century. ThiE. Tonkin, M. McDonald and M. Chapman, "History and ಜನಾಂಗೀಯತೆ" (ಲಂಡನ್‌ 1989), pp. 11–17 (quoted in J. ಹಚಿನ್‌ಸನ್‌ & A.D. ಸ್ಮಿತ್‌ (eds.), "ಆಕ್ಸ್‌ಫರ್ಡ್‌ ರೀಡರ್ಸ್‌: ಎತ್ನಿಸಿಟಿ" (ಆಕ್ಸ್‌ಫರ್ಡ್‌ 1996), pp. 18–24)</ref>

The modern usage of "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯ ಗುಂಪು", however, reflects the different kinds of encounters industrialised states have had with subordinate ಗುಂಪುಗಳು, such as immigrants and colonised subjects; "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯ ಗುಂಪು" came to stand in opposition to "ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ", to refer to ಜನರು with distinct cultural identities who, through migration or conquest, had become subject to a foreign state. The modern usage of the word is relatively new—1851 — with the first usage of the term ಜನಾಂಗೀಯ ಗುಂಪು" in 1935, and entering the ಆಕ್ಸ್‌ಫರ್ಡ್‌ English Dictionary in 1972."

The modern usage definition of the "ಆಕ್ಸ್‌ಫರ್ಡ್‌ English Dictionary is: " 
Writing about the usage of the term "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯ" in the ordinary language of Great ಬ್ರಿಟನ್‌ and the United States, ವಾಲ್‌ಮನ್‌ notes that
Thus, in today's everyday language, the words "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯ" and "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯತೆ" still have a ring of exotic ಜನರುs, ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯಾತರು issues and race relations.

Within the social sciences, however, the usage has become more generalized to all human ಗುಂಪುಗಳು that explicitly regard themselves and are regarded by others as culturally distinctive. Among the first to bring the term "ಜನಾಂಗೀಯ ಗುಂಪು" into social studies was the ಜರ್ಮನ್‌ sociologist ಮ್ಯಾಕ್ಸ್‌‌ ವೆಬೆರ್‌, who defined it as: [T]hose human ಗುಂಪುಗಳು that entertain a subjective belief in their common ತಲೆಮಾರು because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and migration; this belief must be important for ಗುಂಪು formation; furthermore it does not matter whether an objective blood relationship exists. 

Ethno-ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ conflict
Defining ಜನಾಂಗೀಯತೆ
ಜನಾಂಗೀಯತೆ and ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ
Approaches to understanding ಜನಾಂಗೀಯತೆ