Meaning

noun a native of Latin America

noun an artificial language based on words common to the Romance languages

adjective related to a Spanish-speaking people or culture

originAmerican English, first attested in the 1960s for a person of Spanish-speaking or Latin American ancestry (notably Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban), originally an (informal) shortened form of Spanish latinoamericano (“Latin American”, adjective). Its appearance probably coincided with the colloquial use of Anglo (for a person of British or White US descent) and Afro (for a person of Black or…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0