Ethnicity, put simply, is someone's regional cultural heritage. This includes a person's native language, their religion, the holidays they celebrate, and their cultural practices. In this case, ethnicity is tied much more closely to geographical region and culture than physical appearance.

In sum: the term race is understood today as primarily a sociological designation that identifies a group sharing some outward physical characteristics and some commonalities of culture and history, while ethnicity is a word for something you acquire based on where your family is from and the group which you share cultural, traditional, and familial bonds and experiences with.

Members of an ethnicity tend to identify with each other based on these shared traits. Examples of ethnicity include being labeled as Irish, Jewish, or Cambodian, regardless of race. Ethnicity is considered an anthropological term because it is based on learned behaviors rather than biological factors.