traditional knowledge

American  

[truh-dish-uh-nuhl nahl-ij] / trəˈdɪʃ ə nəl ˈnɑl ɪdʒ /

noun

1. skills, knowledge, and practices that are passed down through generations, rather than being taught through official means or formal education, and which are often associated with specific cultural identities.

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Example Sentences

Hansen has said the patch is his way of recognising the Indigenous peoples in Canada and their traditional knowledge.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

“China and the international community should respect traditional knowledge and local communities to make them ideal stewards to protect the Tibetan plateau.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025

“Land back means giving the land back to its original people with no strings attached. Let them provide their traditional knowledge to heal the land, the environment.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 14, 2025

Stoeppler believes that mobilizing this traditional knowledge will benefit his community's economy and the environment.

From Science Daily • Dec. 6, 2024

The traditional knowledge of the destruction of Sikyatki is very limited among the present Hopi, but the best folklorists all claim that it was destroyed by warriors from Walpi and possibly from Middle Mesa.

From Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744 by Fewkes, Jesse Walter