Asian American (n.)

the noun has no hyphen (like "French Canadian"); the adjective does: Asian-American literature/French-Canadian literature. Writer Shirley Geok-Lin Lim says this homogenizing label includes "hundreds of tribes, language groups, a variety of immigration histories (from first-generation Chinese Americans, arriving from Taiwan or Hong Kong or the mainland, who have different stories to tell, to the Sansei, third-generation Japanese Americans whose American roots go back to the early 19th century)." Occasionally "Asian American" may be appropriate, but in general use specific designations: Filipino/a American, Japanese American, Chinese American. "Asian American" is not interchangeable with "Asian" or "Amerasian." An excellent reference book is Everything You Need to Know About Asian-American History (Lan Cao and Himilce Novas). See also Asian, Asiatic, Issei, Kibei, Nisei, Oriental, Pacific Islander, Sansei, Yonsei.