ethnography
Meaningwriting about peoples
Common meaning: a description of how one community lives
- ethna nation; a body of peopleLiddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), p. 226 · scan
- graphto scratch marks, hence to write or drawLiddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon (1883), p. 317 · scan
- ynoun ending: study, state or act
‘a nation’ + ‘to scratch marks, hence to write or draw’ → ethnography
Journey through time
Neither part’s path through time is traced in our sources yet; each root is shown from its dictionary entry.
- ethn — Greek ἔθνος “a nation; a body of people” (dictionary form; path not traced)
- graph — Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) “to scratch marks, hence to write or draw” (dictionary form; path not traced)
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.
- US IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.
Origin: Built on Greek ἔθνος ‘a nation; a body of people’ + Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) ‘to scratch marks, hence to write or draw’.
Did you know: our wording, based on Liddell & Scott, Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry ἔθνος, p. 226 · dictionary scan
Roots
- γράφω (gráphō) Ancient Greek “to scratch marks, hence to write or draw”
- ἔθνος Greek “a nation; a body of people”
Related words
autobiographyautographbibliographybiographycalligraphyepigramepigraphgeographylithographmonographorthographypalaeography
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