ethnographic

American  

[eth-nuh-graf-ik] / ˌɛθ nəˈgræf ɪk /

Rarely ethnographical

adjective

1. of or relating to ethnography, the branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of individual cultures.

   Ethnographic information indicates that trips to harvest wild hot peppers were important social and economic ventures among Apache peoples in the region.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ethnographically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of ethnographic

ethno- ( def. ) + -graphic ( def. )

Explanation

Anything that describes a specific culture's customs, like a movie about a small village in China or a book about French Canadians, can be described as ethnographic. You're most likely to hear the word ethnographic in an anthropology class, since it's a scientific way to describe books, films, research, or lectures that have to do with the study of human societies and their customs. The word comes from two Greek roots, ethnos, or "people," and grapho, "to write." So if you write a paper about the customs of American teenagers in the 1980s, your work is ethnographic.

Example Sentences

Ethnographic studies of recent societies are rich in examples of biological parentage taking a back seat to other kinds of family relationships.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 4, 2023

Ethnographic records from other groups around the world suggest these rates are typical for hunter-gatherers.

From Scientific American • Dec. 13, 2022

Petitjean dexterously shifts from tracing Kahlo’s artistic and biographical trajectory to tracking his father’s progression from an associate at the Ethnographic Museum to a gallery assistant at Galerie Renou et Colle, where Kahlo exhibits.

From Washington Post • Apr. 23, 2020

The items, which included several masks, a wooden idol and a baby basket, had been in the collection of Berlin’s Ethnographic Museum, though they were never exhibited publicly.

From New York Times • May 16, 2018

These states lie outside the scope of the Ethnographic Survey and hence no regular inquiry has been made on the Rautias.

From The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV Kumhar-Yemkala by Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)