What does anthropologist mean?
An anthropologist is a scholar trained in anthropology, the scientific study of humanity in all its breadth — from human evolution, biology, and genetics to language, social organization, ritual, and everyday cultural practice. The word denotes both a professional role and an identity: anthropologists typically conduct fieldwork, living among or observing the people they study, and their methods range from long-term ethnographic immersion to laboratory analysis of skeletal remains. The field is conventionally divided into branches such as cultural (or social) anthropology, biological or physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology, so a working anthropologist may be excavating an ancient settlement, analyzing primate anatomy, or documenting a disappearing language. The term carries a scholarly, somewhat formal register; it appears frequently in journalism and popular writing whenever cross-cultural expertise lends authority to an account. Because it names someone whose entire subject is humankind itself, the word has a pleasing reflexive quality: anthropologists study precisely what we all are.
nounAn anthropologist is an expert in or student of anthropology, the study of human beings — their biology, societies, cultures, languages, and development across time and place.
- A scholar who studies humans scientifically through the discipline of anthropology, encompassing cultural, biological (physical), linguistic, or archaeological specializations.
"The anthropologist spent two years living among the community she studied before publishing her findings."
"Margaret Mead was one of the best-known anthropologists of the twentieth century."
"A forensic anthropologist helped identify the remains found at the archaeological site."
Regular plural formed by adding -s; used when referring to multiple practitioners of anthropology.
"Anthropologists have documented strikingly different kinship systems across cultures."
The word 'anthropologist' literally means 'one who studies humans' — making every one of us, in a sense, its subject matter.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of anthropologist
'Anthropologist' derives from Greek roots: 'anthrōpos' meaning 'human being' and '-logia' meaning 'study' or 'discourse', combined with the agent suffix '-ist' that marks a practitioner. The underlying term 'anthropology' took shape in European scholarly Latin during the Renaissance and early modern period, and the word for its practitioner followed as the discipline became institutionalized in the nineteenth century. It shares its root with related borrowings from the same Greek stem, including 'anthropomorphic', 'anthropocentric', and 'philanthropy', all of which likewise center on the idea of humankind.
Related word forms
How anthropologist is actually used
A formal, academic term. In everyday speech it is often used loosely for any researcher who studies cultures by immersing themselves in them ('doing fieldwork'), though specialists distinguish subfields such as cultural, physical/biological, and linguistic anthropology. The plural is 'anthropologists'.
Easily confused with anthropologist
An archaeologist studies past human societies chiefly through material remains such as artifacts and ruins, whereas an anthropologist studies humans more broadly, including living cultures, biology, and language.