What does culture mean?
Culture is one of English's richest and most widely used nouns, describing the whole way of life of a group of people — their shared beliefs, customs, arts, language, institutions, and material achievements. It can refer to something as broad as Western civilisation or as narrow as the unwritten norms of a single office or online community. Beyond human societies, the word also names the deliberate growth of microorganisms or cells under controlled laboratory conditions, reflecting an older sense tied literally to cultivation. A third, more traditional meaning denotes refined taste and intellectual sophistication — someone described as 'cultured' is presumed to appreciate art, music, and literature. The word carries strong emotional weight: people identify deeply with their culture, defend it, celebrate it, and sometimes clash over it. Because it bridges anthropology, biology, business, and everyday conversation, culture remains an indispensable term for describing what groups of living things — and the people within them — collectively produce, preserve, and pass on.
The customs, arts, social institutions, beliefs, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other group.
"Indigenous cultures across Australia maintain oral traditions stretching back tens of thousands of years."
Usually used with a definite article when referring to a specific culture (e.g. 'the culture of ancient Egypt').
The cultivation of microorganisms, tissue cells, or other living matter under controlled conditions, typically for scientific study.
"Researchers transferred the cell culture to fresh medium every forty-eight hours."
Refinement of intellect, tastes, and manners acquired through education and exposure to the arts.
"Her conversation revealed a breadth of reading and genuine culture rare in so young a scholar."
This older, more elitist sense is less common today and can sound affected or class-conscious in modern usage.
Plural form refers to distinct individual cultures (human societies) or to separate laboratory samples of grown organisms/cells.
"Anthropologists compared burial practices across several Pacific island cultures."
The word 'culture' originally referred to farming — we 'tended' ideas and arts the same way early humans tended crops.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of culture
Culture derives from Latin cultura, meaning 'cultivation' or 'tending', originally applied to farming and the raising of crops (as in agriculture). By extension, Roman writers like Cicero used it metaphorically to describe the cultivation of the mind and soul — cultura animi. The word entered English in the Middle Ages via Old French, retaining the agricultural sense before gradually acquiring its modern meanings of refined intellectual taste (17th century) and, by the 19th century through the work of anthropologists such as Edward Tylor, the broader sense of a society's total way of life. Cognates include cultivate, agriculture, and cult, all stemming from the same Proto-Indo-European root *kwel- meaning 'to revolve' or 'to dwell'.
Related word forms
How culture is actually used
Highly versatile across registers: appears in casual speech (pop culture), academic anthropology, business writing (organisational culture), and scientific contexts (cell culture). In plural form ('cultures') it refers to multiple distinct societies or biological samples. Connotation depends heavily on context — it can signal pride and identity, or in phrases like 'cancel the culture' become politically charged.
Easily confused with culture
A cult is a small religious group with unorthodox beliefs and often a charismatic leader, whereas culture is the broad set of shared customs and values of a group or society.
Vulture is a scavenging bird of prey that rhymes with culture but has no semantic relationship to it.