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

Ethnographic sculpture was perversely complicated with a wild mix of objectives and motivations, and this exhibition does a good job of revealing that complexity.

From Washington Post • May 14, 2022

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

Besides those I have mentioned, are the Ethnographic Museum—the best of its kind; the Museum of Coins, the most complete I have seen; the Thorwaldsen Museum; the Mineralogical Museum; the Zoological Museum, and many more.

From James Nasmyth: Engineer; an autobiography by Smiles, Samuel