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When did the word culture start referring to customs, not just farming?

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culture

American  

[kuhl-cher] / ˈkʌl tʃər /

noun

cultures plural

1. the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

2. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

3. a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period.

   Greek culture.

4. development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

5. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular group of people, as a social, ethnic, professional, or age group (usually used in combination).

   the youth culture; the drug culture.

6. the shared beliefs, behaviors, or social environment connected with a particular aspect of society.

   the rape culture on campus; the culture of poverty; a culture of celebrity worship.

7. the values, typical practices, and goals of a business or other organization, especially a large corporation.

   Their corporate culture frowns on avoiding risk.

8. Anthropology. the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.

9. Biology.

   1. the cultivation of microorganisms, as bacteria, or of tissues, for scientific study, medicinal use, etc.

   2. the product or growth resulting from such cultivation.

10. the act or practice of cultivating the soil; tillage.

11. the raising of plants or animals, especially with a view to their improvement.

12. the product or growth resulting from such cultivation.

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verb (used with object)

cultures, present (3rd person singular) cultured, past participle, past culturing present participle

1. to subject to culture; cultivate.

2. Biology.

   1. to grow (microorganisms, tissues, etc.) in or on a controlled or defined medium.

   2. to introduce (living material) into a culture medium.

culture British  

/ ˈkʌltʃə /

noun

1. the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action

2. the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group

   the Mayan culture

3. a particular civilization at a particular period

4. the artistic and social pursuits, expression, and tastes valued by a society or class, as in the arts, manners, dress, etc

5. the enlightenment or refinement resulting from these pursuits

6. the attitudes, feelings, values, and behaviour that characterize and inform society as a whole or any social group within it

   yob culture

7. the cultivation of plants, esp by scientific methods designed to improve stock or to produce new ones

8. stockbreeding the rearing and breeding of animals, esp with a view to improving the strain

9. the act or practice of tilling or cultivating the soil

10. biology

    1. the experimental growth of microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, in a nutrient substance (culture medium), usually under controlled conditions See also culture medium

    2. a group of microorganisms grown in this way

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verb

1. to cultivate (plants or animals)

2. to grow (microorganisms) in a culture medium

culture Scientific  

/ kŭl′chər /

1. A growth of microorganisms, viruses, or tissue cells in a specially prepared nutrient medium under supervised conditions.

2. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. Culture is learned and shared within social groups and is transmitted by nongenetic means.

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1. To grow microorganisms, viruses, or tissue cells in a nutrient medium.

culture Cultural  

1. The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next.

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Usage

What does culture mean? Culture is a collection of behaviors and beliefs associated with a particular group, as in Ming adores Mexican culture, especially Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Culture is also the quality of a person or group of people that comes from appreciating excellence in the arts, fashion, manners, and other characteristics of a society, as in A person of culture, Damon frequently attends the symphony and theater. To culture someone is to expose them to culture, particularly to one that is not their own. In biology and agriculture, a culture is a specific, enclosed group of organisms, such as a cell culture or a group of plants or animals that are separated from the rest. Related to this sense, to culture means to grow such a group of organisms. Example: The culture at my office is one of respect and interest in each others’ projects.

Synonym Usage

See education.

Discover More

Culture also refers to refined music, art, and literature; one who is well versed in these subjects is considered “cultured.”

Anthropologists consider that the requirements for culture (language use, tool making, and conscious regulation of sex) are essential features that distinguish humans from other animals.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anticulture
  noun
• culturist
  noun
• interculture
  noun
• multiculture
  noun
• nonculture
  noun
• preculture
  noun
• superculture
  noun
• cultureless
  adjective
• interculture
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cultures
  plural

Participles

• culturing
  present
• cultured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• culture
  simple
• cultures
  simple
• have cultured
  perfect
• has cultured
  perfect
• am culturing
  progressive
• are culturing
  progressive
• is culturing
  progressive
• have been culturing
  perfect progressive
• has been culturing
  perfect progressive

Past

• cultured
  simple
• had cultured
  perfect
• was culturing
  progressive
• were culturing
  progressive
• had been culturing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will culture
  simple
• will have cultured
  perfect
• will be culturing
  progressive
• will have been culturing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of culture

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: “tilling, place tilled,” from Anglo-French, Middle French, from Latin cultūra “cultivation, agriculture, tillage, care.” See cult, -ure

Explanation

A culture is a specific group of people during a particular time — like the hippie culture of the 1960's. Culture can also imply exposure to the arts. Visit a museum if you are in need of a dose of culture. A useful thing to remember about culture is that it is closely related to cultivate, whose root meaning is "to till the soil." Even in Latin, the source language, cultura was used metaphorically (Cicero said philosophy was cultura animi, the "cultivation of the soul"), and in English it moved from the agricultural sense to training, development of language and literature, mental development through education, and finally the ideas, customs, and intellectual and artistic conditions of a society or group.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

culture cultures cultured culturing

In this sense, the Backrooms reveal how digital culture is beginning to reshape experiences traditionally associated with tourism, allowing for the mundane to become menacing.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

"I don't think viewers are simply passive consumers. Many people watch Love Island critically and debate issues like sexism, classism and racism, so the programme both reflects and shapes contemporary dating culture."

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

In fact, stir-fried lettuce is a beloved dish in Chinese culture, often eaten for good luck during Lunar New Year.

From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026

“This is a theater of democracy that believes that the culture belongs to everybody,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

Music making and artistic endeavors represent the heart of a culture, and are part of each culture’s core identity: not only what makes us human, but also what makes each group of us unique.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

“I think there is a lot of attention to how different cultures have taken America’s pastime and created experiences around it that are different than we have here,” Freedman said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

RedBird Capital Partners founder Gerry Cardinale and legendary footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović delve into the complexities of running Italian football club AC Milan and navigating the differences between American and European sports cultures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

That's the case of Adam Smiley Poswolsky, who is now a 42-year-old public speaker and author who talks and writes about how to improve workplace cultures.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

When human neurons grown in laboratory cultures were exposed to the same proteins, they responded in similar ways.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

This dramatic change in the roster of nations making up the new America is yet another stage in the saga of this country as a melting pot of cultures and experience.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

For much of the opening half they were like a cultured fighter, boxing the ears off an over-matched rival, bamboozling their punchbag with their movement before what felt like an inevitable knockout.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

Using preclinical laboratory experiments with cultured neurons, researchers developed antibodies designed to block GPNMB.

From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026

"They took bees back and growed them in the lab, they cultured all the pollen, the wax, and many, many things."

From Barron's ● May 19, 2026

The French brasserie with paper-thin radishes, good cultured butter and a pinch of flaky salt.

From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2026

Unfortunately, cultured or not, Bobby played poorly in the tournament at first.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

There, he spent his days culturing cells and running experiments in a Minneapolis Veterans Affairs laboratory until 2016, when he left GeneSegues but stayed in Minnesota.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026

Suspended in water, the legs of the new robot are made of 3D-printed elements, flexible rubber, and skeletal muscle tissue grown by culturing rat cells in a lab.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 26, 2024

That precision, combined with the team's ability to reversibly manipulate the lenses themselves, might expand the culturing options available to those working in biomaterials and biomedical engineering, Morin said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2023

Through iterative rounds of computer modeling and real-world culturing and analysis of CRISPR-modified strains, the authors demonstrated a generalizable workflow that removes the crutch of strain design by trial and error.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2023

As Gey flew from one lab to another, demonstrating his culturing techniques and helping to set up new laboratories, he always flew with tubes of Henrietta’s cells in his breast pocket.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Related Words

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