ethnologist
Americannoun
Explanation
A scientist who compares the way different human societies and cultures function is an ethnologist. An ethnologist is sometimes called a cultural anthropologist. An ethnologist is an anthropologist who specializes in studying data about the way different groups of people live, and then comparing and contrasting this information. By looking at the religious beliefs, languages, and social norms of various cultures, ethnologists can discover the things we all have in common. The ultimate goal of this work is to better understand humanity. The Greek root of ethnologist is ethnos, "people."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Between the 1930s and the 1970s, German ethnologist Hans Himmelheber journeyed across Ivory Coast amassing a collection of ritual objects.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
Solares died in 1923 at 81, but left wax cylinder recordings of Chumash songs, stories and translations with linguist and Native American language ethnologist John Peabody Harrington.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2025
While Ernaux writes explicitly and vividly about herself, she does so as “an ethnologist of myself,” as she has put it.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2022
Fuller’s friend Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an Arctic explorer and ethnologist, had introduced him to Alfred J. T. Taylor, a mechanical engineer from London who was interested in a license for sales overseas.
From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2022
Below Yoruba comes a district, the Oil Rivers, where, alas, Ellis did not penetrate, and where no ethnologist, unless you will graciously extend the term to me, has ever cautiously worked.
From West African studies by Mary Henrietta Kingsley
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