Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England, the English people, or the English language, such as in the term Anglo-Saxon. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in The Americas, Australia and Southern Africa. It is also used, both in English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries, to refer to Anglophone people of other European origins.
Anglo is a Late Latin prefix used to denote English- in conjunction with another toponym or demonym. The word is derived from Anglia, the Latin name for England, and still the modern name of its eastern region. Anglia and England both mean Land of the Angles, a Germanic people originating in the north German peninsula of Angeln.
It is also often used to refer to 'British' in historical and other contexts after the Acts of Union 1707, for example such as in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, where in later years agreement was between the British government and the Dutch, not an English government. Typical examples of this use are also shown below, where non-English people from the British Isles are classified as being English.
Anglo is not an easily defined term. For traditionalists, there are linguistic problems with using the word as an adjective or noun on its own. For example, the purpose of the -o ending is to enable the formation of a compound term (for example Anglo-Saxon meaning of Angle and Saxon origin), so there is only an apparent parallelism between, for example, Latino and Anglo. However, a semantic change has taken place in many English-speaking regions so that in informal usage the meanings listed below are perfectly valid.
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In Australia, "Anglo" is used as part of the terms Anglo-Australian and Anglo-Celtic, which refer to the majority of Australians, who are of English and/or Scottish, Welsh or Irish descent.[1]
In Canada, and especially in Canadian French, the terms anglophone or Anglo-Canadian are is widely used to designate someone whose mother tongue is English, as contrasted to francophones, whose mother tongue is French and to allophones, whose with a mother tongue is a language other than English or French. In Quebec, the word anglophone refers to English-speaking Quebecers in both English and French. Anglo-Metis is also sometimes used to refer to a historical ethnic group.
Immigrants from English-speaking countries are sometimes referred to as Anglos.[2] However this term is problematic as it lumps together immigrants from the diverse cultures of the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, the USA and Canada under one apparently culturally homogeneous umbrella and assumes a common interest based on language and an undefined "Anglo-Saxon" culture.
Anglo in New Zealand refers to anyone who is of British Isles (Anglo-Celtic) ancestry, although the more popular term for them, as well as for any New Zealander of European origins, is Pākehā, a Māori term used by the indigenous Polynesian people.
In Scotland the term Anglo-Scot, often shortened to "Anglo", is used to refer to people born in England with Scottish ancestry, or people born in Scotland with English ancestry.
In South Africa, Anglo-South African is used for predominantly British-descended, English-speaking white people, who are contrasted with the Dutch-descended Afrikaners. Use of Anglo occurs elsewhere in former British colonies in Africa which have sizeable British communities, including Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. However, the term "Anglo" is more heavily used in South Africa than in these other countries because of Apartheid and the importance it placed on race.
In some parts of the United States Anglo-American is shortened to Anglo and applied to White Americans who are not of Hispanic or Latino origin, and sometimes to those who are not of French origin.[3]
In the Southwest United States, Anglo, short for Anglo American, is used as a synonym for Non-Hispanic Whites, that is, all European Americans (except Portuguese-, and Spanish-Americans), most of whom speak the English language but are not necessarily of English descent. The term Anglo-American also excludes Franco-Americans such as the Cajuns of Louisiana. The term Anglo has been regularly used by mainstream media such as the Los Angeles Times.
However, it is also possible to find usage of Anglo in contrast with Jewish.[4] In addition, some non-Hispanics whites in the United States who speak English but are not of English ancestry do not identify with the term Anglo and in some cases find the term offensive. For instance, some Cajuns in south Louisiana use the term to refer to area whites who do not have Francophone backgrounds. Irish Americans, the second largest ethnic group in the United States following German-Americans, also sometimes take umbrage at being called "Anglo."[5][6]