The term Latino (/læˈtiːnoʊ, lə-/)^[2] is a noun and adjective often used in English and Spanish to refer to people in the United States with cultural ties to Latin America, in particular to those countries which are Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking.

Within the Latino community itself in the United States, there is some variation in how it is defined or used.

Various U.S. governmental agencies, especially the Census Bureau, codified their usage, and so have specific definitions which may or may not agree with community usage, and includes a specific list of countries from which American residents stem, which are, or are not, included in the agency's definition of Latino.

These agencies were also simultaneously using the term Hispanic, which usually has a slightly different meaning: where Latino includes Brazil, Hispanic usually does not. Conversely, Hispanic includes Spaniards, whereas Latino does not.

Usage of Latino is tied to the United States. Residents of Central and South American countries usually refer to themselves by national origin, rarely as Latino. There is criticism of the term, coming from both inside and outside the United States. Other terms spun off from Latino exist, such as Latinx

"Latino" as a category used in the United States may be understood as a shorthand for the Spanish word latinoamericano (Latin American in English).^[3]

Both Hispanic and Latino are generally used to denote people living in the United States,^[4][5] so much so that "Outside the United States, we don't speak of Latinos; we speak of Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and so forth."^[6][7] In Latin America, the term latino is not a common endonym and its usage in Spanish as a demonym is restricted to the Latin American-descended population of the United States.

The U.S. government Office of Management and Budget has defined Hispanic or Latino people as "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race".^[8] The United States Census uses the ethnonym Hispanic or Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race".^[9] The Census Bureau also explains that "[o]rigin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person’s ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race."^[10] Hence the U.S. Census and the OMB are using the terms differently. The U.S. Census and the OMB use the terms interchangeably, where both terms are synonyms. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, the majority (51%) of Hispanic and Latino Americans prefer to identify with their families' country of origin, while only 24% prefer the term Hispanic or Latino.^[11]

The AP Stylebook's recommended usage of Latino in Latin America includes not only persons of Spanish-speaking ancestry, but also more generally includes persons "from – or whose ancestors were from –... Latin America, including Brazilians". However, in the recent past, the term Latinos was also applied to people from the Caribbean region,^[12] but those from former French, Dutch and British colonies are excluded.^[13]

The modern usage of latino comes from a shortening of the term Latin America (Spanish: America Latina, or latinoamerica.^[14] The term Latin America was first coined by South Americans in France in the mid-19th century, and adapted by the French as Amérique latine during the time of the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s.^[1][15]

By the late 1850s, the term was being used in local California newspapers such as El Clamor Publico by californios writing about America latina and latinoamerica, and identifying themselves as latinos as the abbreviated term for their "hemispheric membership in la raza latina".^[14]

An earlier theory held that the term came about in the 16th century, given by geographers to Spain and Portugal's colonies in the New World, referring to the Latin-based, Romance languages imposed on the indigenous population by the colonizers.^[16]

Whereas Latino designates someone with roots in Latin America, the term Hispanic in contrast is a demonym that includes Spaniards and other speakers of the Spanish language.^[17][18][19]

The term Latino was officially adopted in 1997 by the United States Government in the ethnonym Hispanic or Latino, which replaced the single term Hispanic: "Because regional usage of the terms differs – Hispanic is commonly used in the eastern portion of the United States, whereas Latino is commonly used in the western portion."^[8]

U.S. official use of the term "Hispanic" has its origins in the 1970 census. The Census Bureau attempted to identify all Hispanics by use of the following criteria in sampled sets:^[20]

Neither "Hispanic" nor "Latino" refers to a race, as a person of Latino/Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race.^[21][22] Like non-Latinos, a Latino can be of any race or combination of races: White American / Caucasian, Black / African American, Asian American, Native American / Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander American, or two or more ethnicities. While Brazilian Americans are not included with Hispanics and Latinos in the government's census population reports, any Brazilian American can report as being Hispanic or Latino since Hispanic or Latino origin is, like race or ethnicity, a matter of self-identification.^[21][23]

Other federal and local government agencies and non-profit organizations include Brazilians and Portuguese in their definition of Hispanic. The U.S. Department of Transportation defines Hispanic Americans as, "persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or other Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race".^[24] This definition has been adopted by the Small Business Administration as well as by many federal, state, and municipal agencies for the purposes of awarding government contracts to minority owned businesses. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Conference include representatives of Spanish and Portuguese descent. The Hispanic Society of America is dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. Each year since 1997 the International Latino Book Award is conferred to the best achievements in Spanish or Portuguese literature at BookExpo America, the largest publishing trade show in the United States. The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, which proclaims itself the champion of Hispanic success in higher education, has member institutions in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.

Some authorities of American English maintain a distinction between the terms "Hispanic" and "Latino":

The AP Stylebook

There were 28 categories tabulated in the 2000 United States Census: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican Republic; Central American: Costa Rican, Guatemalan, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, Salvadoran, Other Central American; South American: Argentinian, Bolivian, Chilean, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Uruguayan, Venezuelan, Other South American; Other Hispanic or Latino: Spaniard, Spanish, Spanish American, All other Hispanic or Latino.^[26]

In a recent study, 79% of the Brazilian population identified themselves as "Brazilians" while 13% as "Citizens of the World" and only 4% as "Latino-Americanos".^[27]

The use of the term Latino, despite its increasing popularity, is still highly debated among those who are called by the name.^[28][29] Since the adoption of the term by the U.S. Census Bureau^[30] and its subsequent widespread use, there have been several controversies and disagreements, especially in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries. Since it is an arbitrary generic term, many Latin American scholars, journalists, and indigenous rights organisations have objected to the mass media use of the word "Latino", pointing out that such ethnonyms are optional and should be used only to describe people involved in the practices, ideologies, and identity politics of their supporters.^{[7][32][33][34]} Journalist Rodolfo Acuña writes:

The term Latino is a loan word borrowed from Spanish, and ultimately has its roots in the Latin language used in Ancient Rome.

Attempts have been made to introduce gender neutral language into Spanish by changing the ending of Latino. Terms like Latinx,^[36] and Latin@ are just a few examples of the various ways in which members of the Latino community have tried to be more inclusive of women and gender nonbinary individuals through language.

Latinx (pronounced lə-TEE-nekslə-TINKSor Latina Latinxs.

The term was first seen around 2004, predominantly online, among intersectional advocacy groups combining the identity politics of race and gender. It slowly gained in usage, and came into popular use around 2014, especially in American universities, where its use has since become widespread.

Reactions to this neologism have been mixed, with the most criticism coming from native Spanish speakers.

There tends to be a generational and regional divide among supporters and critics of the term, with more support among young people in the United States, and more criticism among older generations, and from those outside the U.S.