Etic
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Of or pertaining to analysis of a culture from a perspective situated outside all cultures.
"A useful example of the emic-etic distinction may be made by comparing the concept “waves on the ocean or sea” from the perspective of a European American with that of a Truk Islander […] The proposed etics here might be that both cultures understand the use of waves as vehicles for surfing and as movement reflecting the transfer of energy […] certain differences, or emics exist, for European Americans the waves may be sources of beauty — the Truk Islander has learned to use them […] as a road map."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The doctor used an etic understanding to explain symptoms to his patients."
Etymology
Coined by American linguist Kenneth Pike in 1954 from phonetic. * Kenneth Lee Pike (1962), With Heart and Mind: A Personal Synthesis of Scholarship and Devotion, page 37: “I have coined the term etic to refer to the detached observer’s view […]”
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.