Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
  Home Introduction About the author Types of affixes Thematic indexes Search the site   A B C D E F G H I JK L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z   Previous entry Next entry Up to index of E  

ethno-

A nation, people, or culture.

[Greek ethnos, nation.]

Ethnology is the study of the characteristics of different peoples and the differences and relationships between them; ethnicity is the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition; ethnocentric refers to evaluating other peoples and cultures according to one's own assumptions or preconceptions; the adjective ethnic relates to a population group with a common national or cultural tradition.

The form is commonly found in names for cross-disciplinary studies or sciences: ethnoarchaeology, the study of present-day societies in order to draw conclusions about past ones; ethnolinguistics, the part of linguistics that deals with the relations between linguistic and cultural behaviour; ethnobotany, the scientific study of the traditional knowledge and customs of a people concerning plants; ethnomusicology, the study of the music of different cultures.

Visit Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site for 2000+ articles on English!

Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Page last updated 23 September 2008.
Your comments and suggestions on the site are very welcome.