An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common language, ancestral, social, cultural, or national experiences. Unlike other social groups (wealth, age, hobbies), ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which a person lives. In some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language or dialect, symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, and physical appearance. Ethnic groups, derived from the same historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages and share a similar gene pool; they may be grouped as ethno-linguistic groups (e.g. Iranian peoples, Slavic peoples, Bantu peoples, Turkic peoples, Austronesian peoples, Nilotic peoples, etc.) By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, some individuals or groups may leave one ethnic group and become part of another (except for ethnic groups emphasizing racial purity as a key membership criterion). Ethnicity is often used synonymously with ambiguous terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic (cf. "White ethnic", "ethnic restaurant", etc.), generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, who arrived after the founding population of an area was established. Depending on which source of group identity is emphasized to define membership, the following types of (often mutually overlapping) groups can be identified: \n* Ethno-linguistic, emphasizing shared language, dialect or script — example: Gaels \n* Ethno-national, emphasizing a shared polity or sense of national identity — example: Iraqis \n* Ethno-racial, emphasizing shared physical appearance based on genetic origins — example: African Americans \n* Ethno-regional, emphasizing a distinct local sense of belonging stemming from relative geographic isolation — example: South Islanders \n* Ethno-religious, emphasizing shared affiliation with a particular religion, denomination or sect — example: Sikhs In many cases – for instance, the sense of Jewish peoplehood – more than one aspect determines membership. The largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals (Han Chinese being the largest), while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals (numerous indigenous peoples worldwide). Larger ethnic groups may be subdivided into smaller sub-groups known variously as tribes or clans, which over time may become separate ethnic groups themselves due to endogamy or physical isolation from the parent group. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, and may eventually merge into one single ethnicity. Whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis.

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