A culture
/əˈkʌltʃər/noun
The absence or apparent lack of culture, especially in a social or anthropological context.
Did you know?The word is built with the privative prefix a-, meaning “without,” attached to culture—a modern scholarly formation rather than an ancient occult term.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kʷel-
“To move around, turn, or dwell—an ancient root associated with inhabiting and working land.”
Classical Latin
Latin
colere
“To inhabit, till, tend, or worship; the source of both cultivation and culture.”
Classical Latin
Latin
cultura
“Tilling or cultivation, later extended metaphorically to refinement and education.”
17th Century
English
culture
“Cultivation of land, and increasingly the cultivation of the mind or manners.”
20th Century
French/English
aculture
“A scholarly formation using a- (“without”) plus culture to denote lack of culture.”
Modern English
English
aculture
“An absence or deficiency of culture, usually in specialized academic usage.”