Nonwhites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Referring to individuals or groups who do not identify as white within racial or ethnic classifications
2. Describing populations that are composed of racial or ethnic identities other than white
3. Representing demographics that include people of various racial and ethnic backgrounds distinct from those identified as white

Etymology: "Nonwhites" is the plural of "nonwhite", a compound formed in English by attaching the prefix "non-" to "white". The prefix comes from Old English "nān" ("not one"), a contraction of "ne" ("not") and "ān" ("one"), which by Middle English had become "non-" as a prefix meaning "not". "White" descends from Old English "hwīt", traceable back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning bright or shining. Read this way, the word is simply a plain negation: "not white." Its usage in English is a matter of how groups are described, and the compound itself is transparent in construction, with nothing hidden in its formation. Its meaning is set by the combined sense of its two parts rather than by any shift from an earlier sense.